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|Agadir, Alicante, Amsterdam, Arrecife, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bilbao, Birmingham, Bologna, Bordeaux, Boston, Bourgas, Brussels, Bucharest-Otopeni, Budapest, Cardiff [seasonal], Chicago-O'Hare, Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Faro, Frankfurt, Funchal, Geneva, Glasgow-International, Hamburg, Helsinki, Ibiza, Jersey, Kraków, Las Palmas, Lisbon, London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Lyon, Madrid, Malaga, Manchester, Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, Naples, Newcastle upon Tyne, New York-JFK, Nice, Orlando, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Poznań, Prague, Rennes, Riga, Rome-Fiumicino, Salzburg, San Francisco, Santiago de Compostela, Shannon, Sofia, Tenerife-South, Toulouse, Turin, Venice, Vienna, Vilnius, Warsaw, Washington-Dulles, Zürich
|Agadir, Alicante, Amsterdam, Arrecife, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bilbao, Birmingham, Bologna, Bordeaux, Boston, Bourgas, Brussels, Bucharest-Otopeni, Budapest, Chicago-O'Hare, Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Faro, Frankfurt, Funchal, Geneva, Glasgow-International, Hamburg, Helsinki, Ibiza, Jersey, Kraków, Las Palmas, Lisbon, London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Lyon, Madrid, Malaga, Manchester, Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, Naples, Newcastle upon Tyne, New York-JFK, Nice, Orlando, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Poznań, Prague, Rennes, Riga, Rome-Fiumicino, Salzburg, San Francisco, Santiago de Compostela, Shannon, Sofia, Tenerife-South, Toulouse, Turin, Venice, Vienna, Vilnius, Warsaw, Washington-Dulles, Zürich
|Some destinations are seasonal. [[Los Angeles]] ends 2 November, [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] begins 26 October, [[Sofia]] begins 26 October
|Some destinations are seasonal. [[Los Angeles]] ends 2 November, [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] begins 26 October, [[Sofia]] begins 26 October
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Revision as of 14:06, 16 August 2008

Dublin Airport
File:DUBlogo.jpg

Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorDublin Airport Authority
ServesDublin
Elevation AMSL242 ft / 74 m
Coordinates53°25′17″N 006°16′12″W / 53.42139°N 6.27000°W / 53.42139; -6.27000
Websitewww.dublinairport.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
10/28 2,637 8,652 Concrete
11/29 1,339 4,393 Asphalt/Concrete
16/34 2,072 6,798 Asphalt
Source: Irish AIP at EUROCONTROL[1]
File:Athcliath-airport.jpg
Private spiral ramp access to the main terminal building of Dublin (Áth Cliath) Airport

Dublin Airport (IATA: DUB, ICAO: EIDW), or Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath in Irish, is operated by the Dublin Airport Authority. Located in Collinstown, in the Fingal part of County Dublin, it is by far the busiest airport in Ireland - over 23.2 million passengers passed through the airport in 2007.[2] To put this into context, the population of the Greater Dublin Area is approximately 1.6 million, that of the Republic of Ireland is just over 4.3 million, and the island of Ireland just over 6 million. Passenger traffic at Dublin Airport is predominantly international; only 900,000 of its 23.2 million passengers in 2007 were domestic.

The airport is located approximately 10 kilometres north of Dublin City in a once rural area near Swords, and is served by buses and taxis. An underground railway line called 'Metro North' which will connect the airport to Swords and Dublin city centre has been approved and is in development (see below).

The airport is the headquarters of Ireland's flag carrier Aer Lingus, and Europe's largest no-frills airline Ryanair. Ireland's third airline, CityJet, is based in the nearby town of Swords. Irish domestic and regional airline, Aer Arann, provides several domestic and UK routes from Dublin, but while part of its administration is based at Dublin Airport, its base is Galway Airport in the west of Ireland.

The airport has an extensive short and medium haul network, served by an array of carriers. Domestic services are offered to most regional Irish airports. There are approximately 50 daily departures from Dublin to all five London Airports (Stansted, Luton, Gatwick, Heathrow and London City). There is also a reasonably sized Long-Haul network. Aer Lingus serves many popular US Destinations, and has been able to add more thanks to the new open skies deal. US legacy carriers also serve the airport from major US hubs. Etihad Airways operates a daily service between the airport and Abu Dhabi.

United States border preclearance services are available at the airport for US Bound Passengers. Dublin and Shannon are the only two European airports with this service. It allows passengers to have their paperwork dealt with before departure saving time upon arrival in the US. However, due to congestion there are numerous flights that do not use this facility. It is planned to have Customs and Department of Agriculture checks implemented into the new terminal, meaning flights will not have to land in International Terminals as all checks will have been completed.

History

The beginnings in the 1930s

In 1936 the Irish Government established a new civil airline, Aer Lingus, which began operating from the military aerodrome, Casement Aerodrome, at Baldonnel to the south of Dublin. However, the decision was made that a civil airport should replace Baldonnel as the city's airport. Collinstown, to the north of Dublin, was selected as the location for the new civil aerodrome. Collinstown's first association with aviation was as a British military air base during the first World War, but had been unused since 1922. Construction of the new airport began in 1937. By the end of 1939 a grass runway, internal roads, car parks and electrical power and lighting were set up. The inaugural flight from Dublin took place on January 19, 1940 to Liverpool. In 1940 work began on a new airport terminal building. The terminal building design was penned by the architect Desmond Fitzgerald, brother of politician Garret FitzGerald.[3] It opened in the Spring of 1941 and was modelled on the bridge of a luxury liner. It was also awarded the Triennial Gold Medal of the Royal Hibernian Institute of Architects and is today a listed building. Services were severely curtailed at Dublin Airport due to World War II; however, afterwards three new concrete runways were built and completed by 1947.

Expanding in the 1950s

Throughout the 1950s Dublin Airport expanded with virtually uninterrupted traffic growth. Runway extensions and terminal enhancements were carried out to deal with the influx of traffic and passengers. New airlines began serving the airport also. These included British European Airways, Sabena and BKS. In 1958 a new transatlantic service was started by Aer Lingus via Shannon Airport. During the 1960s the number of scheduled carriers continued to grow and aircraft continued to evolve with technological, advancement. By the close of the 1960s, a sizeable number of Boeing 737s, BAC One-Elevens, Boeing 707s, and Hawker Siddeley Tridents were using Dublin Airport on a regular basis. During 1969, 1,737,151 passengers travelled through Dublin Airport.

The advent of wide-body aircraft posed opportunities and challenges for aviation. In 1971 Aer Lingus took delivery of two new Boeing 747 aircraft (a third Boeing 747 was delivered later that decade). To cope with this, a new passenger terminal capable of handling five million passengers per year was opened in 1972. The growth which was anticipated at the airport (and provided for through heavy investment by the airport and Aer Lingus) during the 1970s did not materialise immediately.

Continuing in the 1980s

In 1983 Aer Lingus opened its 'Aer Lingus Commuter' division which took delivery of Shorts, Saab, and Fokker turboprop aircraft to open regular daily domestic services to and from Ireland's smaller regional airports for the first time, as well as to serve existing routes to smaller regional airports in the United Kingdom. At various stages of its operations, flights were operated to several Irish regional airports to feed passengers into Aer Lingus's international network. These domestic destinations included Cork Airport, Shannon Airport, Kerry Airport, Galway Airport, Ireland West Airport Knock, Waterford Airport, Sligo Airport, and City of Derry Airport in Northern Ireland. Aer Lingus Commuter has since been re-absorbed into the main company. The domestic routes, with the exception of Dublin-Shannon, have been taken over by Aer Arann, with British Airways taking over the route to Derry in Northern Ireland. Aer Lingus has continued with the remaining Dublin-UK flights.

During the 1980s, major competition, especially on the Dublin-London routes, resulted in passenger numbers swelling to 5.1 million in 1989. In the same year a new 8,650-foot runway and a state-of-the-art air traffic control centre were opened. Dublin Airport continued to expand rapidly in the 1990s. Pier A, which had been the first extension to the old terminal building, was significantly extended. A new Pier C, complete with air bridges, was built and as soon as this was completed, work commenced to extend it to double its capacity. The ground floor of the original terminal building, which is today a listed building, was returned to passenger service after many years to provide additional departure gates. Pier D, completed in October 2007, is a dedicated low-fares boarding area and provides 14 quick turn-around stands and departure gates; these are not served by air bridges.

The Bilateral Air Transport Agreement

In 1993, a major milestone for the airport was the signing of a new United States-Republic of Ireland bilateral agreement which allowed airlines to operate some direct transatlantic services for the first time to/from Dublin Airport instead of touching down en route at Shannon Airport on the west coast of Ireland (Shannon had once been a major transatlantic refuelling stop for pre-jet aircraft, and this agreement was designed to protect the interests of the Shannon region when modern jets no longer required a refuelling stop and Shannon saw a fall-off in traffic). Airlines still had to provide an equal number of flights either to or through Shannon as to Dublin. A gradual further watering down of Shannon's so-called 'stopover' status came into effect in November 2006 when more direct flights to Dublin will be allowed, until the stopover requirement disappears completely in 2008. At that time, airlines will be allowed to fly direct to the US from Dublin without having to match these with any to/from Shannon. It is expected that this will result in a huge increase in services between Dublin and the US, and Aer Lingus has identified 16 destinations that it would like to serve direct from Dublin.

This of course casts doubt on the future of transatlantic flights to Shannon. However, there is definitely a large demand, and up until now, the 'stopover' has not deterred Aer Lingus and several US airlines from offering either dedicated Shannon-US flights to allow them to fly to Dublin direct, or stopping at Shannon on one leg of their Dublin-US flights. Either way, the business community in Ireland believes that the removal of the 'stopover' is long overdue and has long prevented Dublin, with its perfect location at the western end of Europe, from becoming a major hub between that continent and North America.[citation needed] One counter-argument to that has been that Dublin did not generate sufficient traffic of its own to support this 'hub' theory. However, that is certainly no longer the case.[citation needed]

Recent history

With the success of the Republic of Ireland's 'Celtic Tiger' economy, Dublin Airport has seen growth in the 1990s and 2000s. This demand has been driven by an increased demand for business travel to and from the country, together with an increase in inward tourism, and a surge in demand for foreign holidays and city breaks from the Irish, who are now one of the wealthiest populations in the world. In January 2006, the number of trips abroad taken by the Irish outnumbered the number of inbound trips for the first time since records began. Christmas shopping weekends in New York City have increased in popularity (although London is still the top destination from Dublin). A further source of demand has been for flights to holiday homes and investment properties which have been snapped up by the property-hungry Irish across southern European holiday hotspots, the emerging economies of Eastern Europe, and beyond.

Finally, the demand from Ireland's migrant workers, principally those from Eastern Europe, has resulted in a large number of new routes opening to destinations in the European Union accession states. Ireland was one of only three European Union countries (as well as the United Kingdom and Sweden) to open its borders freely to workers from the ten accession states that joined the European Union in 2004. This resulted in hundreds of thousands of people moving to Ireland from these countries since then.

To give just one example of the 'Eastern Europe' effect, both LOT Polish Airlines and Aer Lingus separately opened a Warsaw-Dublin route in 2004 to coincide with Poland joining the European Union. A patchy schedule was operated at first to test demand, but both airlines have since gone daily with this route, with LOT going double daily several days a week and Aer Lingus putting the larger Airbus A321 on the route. As of early 2007 - three years after Poland joined the European Union - there are direct flights to ten cities in Poland alone, with a choice of several airlines on many routes. The Polish market grew from 143,000 passengers in 2005 to 580,000 in 2006 - an increase of over 400%. The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are also connected with direct flights to Dublin, as are the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Long-haul traffic

The Dublin Airport Authority has ambitious long-haul expansion plans and has successfully added new routes to North America and the Middle East in recent years. It has yet to secure a direct route to East Asia. Like most airports, the effects of the September 11, 2001 attacks affected transatlantic traffic but this has since recovered to record levels.

In 2005 Gulf Air launched a direct route to Bahrain in the Middle East. This was followed by Aer Lingus's service to Dubai in March 2006, and Etihad Airways' service to Abu Dhabi in July 2007. Despite reportedly high loads, the Gulf Air service to Bahrain was cancelled in July 2007 as part of a restructuring plan which also saw the airline pull out of Sydney. This move prompted Etihad Airways to bring forward the start date of its Abu Dhabi service by a number of months, and this too is reportedly performing very well for the airline. The Dublin Airport Authority announced as far back as the late 1990s that it would like to add a route to East Asia, however this has yet to materialise and Aer Lingus's poorly-performing route to Dubai was dropped at the end of March 2008.[4]

Etihad Airways are the only airline to offer the Kangaroo Route from Dublin, flying to Sydney and Brisbane via Abu Dhabi.

On 22 March 2007, the Open Skies agreement between the US and EU was ratified. Aer Lingus immediately announced the launch of three new direct routes - Orlando, San Francisco, and Washington Dulles, which commenced between August and October 2007.

The number of transatlantic flights having to land at Shannon was abolished when the Open Skies agreement came into effect in March 2008. This means that airlines may operate as many direct non-stop flights from any airport in Ireland to any airport in the US. According to the Irish Department of Transport, 22 US cities have expressed interest in direct flights to Ireland.

Aer Rianta and Dublin Airport Authority plc

In October 2004, Aer Rianta (which means 'Air Ways' or 'Air Tracks' in the Irish language) was renamed the Dublin Airport Authority plc, following the State Airports Act 2004. All assets and liabilities previously owned by Aer Rianta were transferred to Dublin Airport Authority plc. The State Airports Act 2004 also established new airport authorities at Shannon and Cork Airports. The Shannon Airport Authority plc and the Cork Airport Authority plc have separate boards of directors and have been authorised under the Act to prepare business plans, which may in time lead to their full separation from the Dublin Airport Authority plc.

As the largest gateway to Ireland, over 21.1 million passengers travelled through the airport in 2006, a 2.7 million (or 15%) increase over 2005. The main contributors to the growth in traffic in 2005 were the airport's routes to continental Europe (particularly Poland and the Baltic region), North America, and the Middle East. Domestic and UK traffic had showed a small decline in 2005, but grew by 25% and 4% respectively in 2006. The decline in 2005 was due to a reduction in connecting traffic between Ireland's regional airports and the UK. This was as a result of a growing direct network of routes between those airports and the UK and Continental Europe, dispensing with the need to transit at Dublin. But the organic demand at Dublin resulted in a net increase in those markets in 2006. Dublin Airport also welcomes over one million passengers per annum from across the border in Northern Ireland, whose largest airport is less than a quarter the size of Dublin in terms of passenger numbers.

Capacity

The sun comes up over Dublin airport.

Due to the phenomenal growth experienced at Dublin Airport in recent years, the facility is chronically congested.[5] 'Catch-up' has been a feature of how the authorities have been dealing with the growth in demand. One part or another of the airport has been a building site for the past two decades. Despite massive building works and extensions, it is widely accepted that the existing terminal building and infrastructure are insufficient to deal with the volume of passengers. Both the Irish Government and the Dublin Airport Authority have come under pressure from airlines and passengers alike to once-and-for-all provide a realistic increase in capacity for the future. As a result, the DAA plans to invest 2 billion in a 10-year capital development programme to effectively double the size of the passenger facilities at Dublin Airport. A new pier (Pier D) has been added to the original terminal which has provided significant additional airside capacity, with 12 gate lounges serving 14 aircraft stands. This pier became operational on 28 October 2007. Terminal 2 is to be built and operational by 2010, as will a new pier (Pier E) to Terminal 2. A third terminal is provided for in the blueprint for the future development of the airport. In the interim, a new check-in area has been built in the basement of the terminal building with 25 check-in desks. This is used by Aer Lingus for their flights to the UK, Italy and Germany. Concerns remain that the airport's road network will become further congested until the Metro to the airport is up and running (see below) and the new road network is completed in 2011.

A new runway measuring 3,110 m is to be built parallel to the existing runway 10/28 (opened in 1989). Detailed proposals and planning permission were submitted to Fingal County Council (under whose jurisdiction Dublin Airport lies) and approved in April 2006. An appeal to An Bord Pleanála (The Irish Planning Appeals Board), which determines appeals and other cases under the national planning acts, was heard in September 2006, and this resulted in the granting of permission in August 2007, with 31 planning conditions attached. According to the Dublin Airport Authority the new parallel runway needs to be operational by around 2012 to ensure that the airfield at Dublin Airport continues to operate effectively and airline operations are not subjected to growing delays on arrival and departure. In the meantime, the Authority has invested heavily in extending aprons and creating rapid exit taxiways to derive maximum efficiency from the existing main runway. Runway 11/29, the shortest and one of the oldest runways, is now closed[1] to allow overspill aircraft parking. This runway will disappear under the new parallel runway in due course.

Terminal Two

The planning for Terminal 2 began in 2005 when the Irish Government directed the DAA (Dublin Airport Authority) to build a new terminal at Dublin Airport as part of its Aviation Action Plan which also included the sale of the majority share holding in Aer Lingus.[6] On 30 August 2006, the Dublin Airport Authority revealed its plans for a second terminal at Dublin Airport, to be located between the existing passenger terminal and the cargo terminal. London-based Pascall + Watson architects, specialists in airport design and master planning won the competition to design the facility. The cost of the overall project is put at €600 million which includes the terminal building itself, a new Pier building (Pier E) as well as upgrades to the internal road network at Dublin Airport and other associated infrastructure. The proposed second terminal would be capable of handling 15 million passengers, thereby allowing the airport to handle 35 million passengers a year. The new Terminal & Pier will provide 19 airbridges for aircraft, however it will also incorporate the existing Pier C which currently provides airlines with 6 airbridges. Another pier will be built to the south of Terminal 2, accommodating additional passenger aircraft, however this will require the relocation of the current cargo terminal. According to the airport authority, Aer Lingus and other long-haul carriers would move to the new facility.[7]

The plans for Terminal 2 were met with objections from those who argued that, once built, it could not be extended to provide any additional capacity, owing to its location. Indeed, the proposed location of T2 would reduce the capacity of T1 because airbridges and departure gates would have to be removed from Pier C to provide space for aircraft stands at T2. It is argued that a second terminal should be located between the main runway and the proposed parallel runway. This arrangement, adopted by major hub airports such as Dallas-Fort Worth and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, would provide space for T2 to expand and provide additional capacity before a third terminal would be required. A third terminal, which is in the blueprint for the future of the airport, would most likely be located between the parallel runways.[8]

The greatest objections came from Ryanair.[9][10][11] The no-frills carrier has long lobbied for Terminal 2 to be built as a low-cost facility, and run by a competing operator. They have even offered to build and operate such a facility. However, the Irish government decided that the DAA would build T2 and that its operation would be put out to tender.

Fingal County Council approved planning permission for the second terminal on 25 October 2006.[12] and this decision was appealed by a number of parties including Ryanair. An Bord Pleanála started an oral hearing on the development on 16 April 2007. On 28 August 2007, An Bord Pleanála gave planning approval for T2, with c30 planning conditions attached. Having satisfied those that had to be achieved prior to the commencement of construction, the DAA started work on Terminal Two on 1 October 2007. The terminal was planned to be fully built and operational by Autumn 2009, but due to the delay in planning approvals, the opening date is now April 2010.[13]

Work is now well underway on Terminal 2 and the completion date has been redesignated Autumn 2009.[14]

Ground transport

Outside Dublin Airport

Dublin Airport is located just off the M1 motorway (Dublin-Belfast road) approximately 10 km (6 mi) north from the city centre and 2 km (1 mi) south of the town of Swords. The most comprehensive and up-to-date information about how to get to and from Dublin Airport can be found on the official site.[15]

Until the rail link (Metro North[16]) to Dublin city centre is completed (see below), the public transport options to the city are taxis, buses, and private transport. Passengers can however connect by bus or taxi to Dublin's railway stations.

  • Taxi

To Dublin Airport: Passengers arriving by taxi will be set down on the Departures roadway directly outside the terminal building.

From Dublin Airport: Taxis are available from the forecourt on the Arrivals level road. A taxi dispatcher is available at the taxi rank to provide information and assistance.

  • Bus

Dublin Airport is served by over 700 bus and coach services daily. Dublin Bus is the major provider of bus services to and from Dublin Airport. Some of these routes connect to Busáras (Dublin's central bus station for intercity and regional bus services), Dublin Connolly railway station and Dublin Heuston railway station. There are several other operators which provide bus service to the airport, both city services and national coach service. The most up-to-date information can be found on the airports web site.[17]

City bus services from Dublin Airport:

  1. Bus services are available on the arrivals level.
  2. Bus services which connect to Busáras (Dublin's central bus station for intercity and regional bus services) also serve Dublin Connolly railway station and the Luas Red Line (both of which are beside Busáras).
  3. Bus services which connect to Dublin Heuston railway station also serve the Luas Red Line, which has a stop at Heuston.
  4. Some services serve Drumcondra suburban railway station, which is on the Connolly to Maynooth railway line.
  5. Dublin Bus operates two express 'Airlink' services which operate to the city's bus and railway stations via the Dublin Port Tunnel to avoid suburban traffic, and are therefore quicker than other bus services, especially in rush hour. These services are 'Airlink' route 747 to Busáras (Dublin Connolly railway station and the Luas Red Line are also beside Busáras), and 'Airlink' route 748 to Busáras and Dublin Heuston railway station.
  6. Aircoach operates non-stop service to Dublin city centre, and the southside suburbs of Ballsbridge, Donnybrook, Leopardstown, and Sandyford, with stops at some of Dublin's major hotels. Aircoach also provides national coach service from Dublin Airport to Cork and Belfast with stops in between.
  7. Urbus provide bus service between the airport and the northside suburbs of Swords, Castleknock, and Blanchardstown (also Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, Blanchardstown Institute of Technology, and Blanchardstown Business Park).
  8. Bray Air Express Operates via Dublin Port Tunnel to Blackrock, Deansgrange, Cherrywood, Royal Hotel Bray and Ramada Hotel Bray.

National Coach services from Dublin Airport:

  1. To connect to the national coach services of Ireland's largest national bus company Bus Éireann (English: Irish Bus), passengers must first get to Busáras (Dublin's central bus station) using one of the many city services available from the airport. Bus Éireann also provide several national coach services direct from the airport.
  2. Several other companies offer national coach services from the airport, details of which can be found on the airport's web site.[17]

Connecting with city/intercity rail services and Luas trams:

  1. Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) provide suburban and intercity railway services from Dublin Connolly and Dublin Heuston railway stations. There are direct regular bus services to both stations from the airport.
  2. Some city bus services serve Drumcondra suburban railway station, which is on the Connolly to Maynooth railway line.
  3. Bus services to Busáras/Dublin Connolly and Dublin Heuston railway stations connect with the Luas Red Line. Passengers wishing to connect with the Luas Green Line may use the Aircoach service, although its nearest outbound stop to the Green Line is at Trinity College, a short walk from St Stephen's Green. Alternatively passengers could take Dublin Bus service 16A from the airport which will connect with the Harcourt Street stop on the Luas Green Line.

Plans for rail link

For many years, it was expected that Iarnród Éireann, the state railway company, would extend the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) with a rail spur off the Dublin to Belfast line that would serve the airport and Swords. However, these plans have been replaced with plans for an underground metro line, which would bypass the DART line and run from the city centre to the town of Swords, via the Airport. Following public consultation, the route for the new line, to be called Metro North was announced on 19 October 2006 and is designed to connect with several other modes of transport.[16]

At St Stephen's Green, in Dublin's southern city centre, Metro North will connect with the Luas (Dublin's light rail tram system) Green line, as well as the proposed DART underground interconnector between Heuston and Connolly inter-city railway stations. From there Metro North will run through the city centre, with a stop at O'Connell Bridge, providing access from both sides of the River Liffey, and a connection with the Luas Red line. The third city centre stop will be at Parnell Square, in Dublin's northern city centre, in an area which the city council is redeveloping into a new cultural/museum quarter.

The line will then take in a stop at the Mater, one of Dublin's major hospitals, and then Drumcondra railway station, which will provide a connection with the line to Maynooth, a commuter and university town. Dublin City University and the suburb of Ballymun are also on the route.

From there, Metro North will continue to the airport and onwards to the commuter town of Swords, which has many business links with the airport and where thousands of workers at the airport live. There will also be a number of park and ride stops along the route.[18]

Although Metro North will provide Dublin with an airport rail link, it is designed to provide many travel possibilities, whether they are to include the airport or not. Journey time between the airport and St Stephen's Green will be 18 minutes. Construction of the station at the airport, which will be centrally located for the two terminals, is expected to start in 2010.

Together with the proposed extensions to the Luas Green and Red tram lines, the metro to Dublin Airport will connect with Dublin's bus and rail termini giving access to all major modes of transportation in and from the city: Dublin Bus's vast bus network, Bus Éireann's nationwide bus network, Luas light rail, DART electrified overground railway (which should by that stage have replaced outer Commuter Services to Balbriggan, Hazelhatch and Maynooth), as well as Irish Rail's inter-city rail services to Rosslare, Waterford, Cork, Tralee, Limerick, Galway, Westport, Ballina, and Sligo, and the high-speed cross-border 'Enterprise' service to Belfast.

Dublin Airport City

The Dublin Airport Authority has recently announced plans for an ambitions development of the Dublin Airport area and surrounding environs. This ambitions project will develop at 350 acre land reserve situated to the East of Dublin Airport and will cost in the region of €4 billion. Of this 350 acres, 90% is already owned by the Dublin Airport Authority, and they are confident that they will be able to purchase the remaining pockets. The development will be mainly high rise and will be expected to be completed by 2028. There will be 600,000sqm of office space along with 40,000sq meters of retail, hotel and conference facilities. It is expected that the journey time from office to airport will be in the region of 6 minutes.[19]

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled Airlines operating at Dublin Airport
Airlines Destinations Remarks
Adria Airways [seasonal] Ljubljana
Aer Arann Cardiff, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Galway, Inverness, Isle of Man, Sligo
Aer Lingus Agadir, Alicante, Amsterdam, Arrecife, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bilbao, Birmingham, Bologna, Bordeaux, Boston, Bourgas, Brussels, Bucharest-Otopeni, Budapest, Chicago-O'Hare, Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Faro, Frankfurt, Funchal, Geneva, Glasgow-International, Hamburg, Helsinki, Ibiza, Jersey, Kraków, Las Palmas, Lisbon, London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Lyon, Madrid, Malaga, Manchester, Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, Naples, Newcastle upon Tyne, New York-JFK, Nice, Orlando, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Poznań, Prague, Rennes, Riga, Rome-Fiumicino, Salzburg, San Francisco, Santiago de Compostela, Shannon, Sofia, Tenerife-South, Toulouse, Turin, Venice, Vienna, Vilnius, Warsaw, Washington-Dulles, Zürich Some destinations are seasonal. Los Angeles ends 2 November, Newcastle upon Tyne begins 26 October, Sofia begins 26 October
Air Canada [seasonal] Toronto-Pearson
Air France London-City, Paris-Charles de Gaulle Operated by CityJet
Air Southwest Newquay, Plymouth
AirBaltic Riga, Vilnius
Arkia Israel Airlines [seasonal] Tel Aviv
American Airlines Chicago-O'Hare
BMI London-Heathrow
British Airways London-City, London-Gatwick London-City operated by BA CityFlyer
Centralwings Gdansk, Warsaw
Continental Airlines Newark
CSA Czech Airlines Prague
Delta Air Lines Atlanta, New York-JFK
Estonian Air Tallinn
Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi
Flybe Exeter, Guernsey, Jersey, Norwich, Southampton
Flyglobespan Hamilton, Vancouver [seasonal]
FlyLAL Palanga [seasonal], Vilnius
Germanwings [seasonal] Cologne/Bonn
Iberia Airlines Madrid
Lufthansa Berlin-Tegel, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Stuttgart Berlin and Stuttgart are operated by Lufthansa CityLine on behalf of Lufthansa Regional
Luxair Luxembourg City
Malev Hungarian Airlines Budapest
Ryanair Aberdeen, Alghero, Alicante, Almeria, Basel/Mulhouse, Berlin-Schönefeld, Biarritz, Billund, Birmingham, Blackpool, Bologna-Forli, Bournemouth, Bratislava, Bremen, Brest, Bristol, Brussels-Charleroi, Budapest, Bydgoszcz, Carcassonne, Cork, Doncaster/Sheffield, Durham Tees Valley, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Faro, Frankfurt-Hahn, Friedrichshafen, Fuerteventura, Gdańsk, Girona, Glasgow-Prestwick, Gothenburg-City, Grenoble, Karlsruhe-Baden, Katowice, Kaunas, Kerry, Kraków, La Rochelle, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, Łódź, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Lübeck, Luqa, Madrid, Malaga, Manchester, Marseille, Milan-Bergamo, Murcia, Nantes, Newcastle, Nice, Oslo-Torp, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Beauvais, Pisa, Porto, Poznań, Prague, Pula, Reus, Riga, Rodez-Marcillac, Rome-Ciampino, Rzeszow, Salzburg, Santander, Seville, Stockholm-Skavsta, Szczecin, Tampere, Tenerife-South, Tours, Trapani, Turin, Valencia, Venice-Treviso, Victoria, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Zadar Some destinations are seasonal
SATA International [seasonal] Ponta Delgada
Scandinavian Airlines System Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm-Arlanda Oslo is operated by SAS Norway
SkyEurope Bratislava, Kosice
Swiss International Air Lines Zurich
S7 Airlines Moscow-Domodedovo
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Ataturk
US Airways Philadelphia

Charter Operators

The following airlines have charter services to and from Dublin

  • Air Europa (Alicante)
  • Air Transat (Montréal, Toronto) [seasonal]
  • Atlas Blue (Agadir)
  • Dubrovnik Airline (Dubrovnik)
  • First Choice Airways (Arrecife, Bourgas, Faro, Fuerteventura, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Malaga, Orlando-Sanford, Palma de Mallorca, Reus, Tenerife-South, Zakynthos)
  • Futura Gael (Alghero, Catania, Dalaman, Heraklion, Mahon)
  • Futura (Malaga, Las Palmas, Faro, Ibiza)
  • Iberworld (Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca)
  • JetX (Corfu, Lanzarote, Malta, Palma, Zakinthos)
  • Onur Air (Izmir, Bodrum)
  • Spanair (Ibiza, Lanzarote, Las Palmas, Tenerife)
  • Monarch Airlines (Bourgas,Orlando-Sanford, Tenerife, Palma de Mallorca, Mahon, Zakinthos)
  • XL Airways (Bourgas, Faro, Mykonos, Palma de Mallorca, Santorini, Skiathos, Zakynthos)

Cargo Operators

References

External links

Template:Busiest Airports in Europe