Over 1,000 people missed flights out of Dublin Airport on Sunday after lengthy queues saw travelers lined up outside the airport terminals.
Upwards to 50,000 passengers were scheduled to depart from the airport on Sunday with authorities admitting that they didn’t have enough staff on duty.
Dublin Airport Authority tweeted: “Due to significant queues inside the terminal for check-in, bag drop and security, passengers queueing outside the terminal may not make their flight and may need to contact their airline to rebook. We sincerely apologise for the obvious frustration and inconvenience this may cause.”
The Business Post newspaper has reported that over the past 18 months 248 staff at the Dublin Airport security screening operation were let go through voluntary redundancy. DAA now intends to hire 370 staff. Three hundred have been recruited, but many are still being trained.
The authority has apologized to passengers who missed their flights.
Many people have spoken of arriving at Terminal One only to find long queues snaking around the building. Others complained that fast-track passes made no difference.
Speaking to RTÉ, Head of Communications at Dublin Airport, Kevin Cullinane said: “At this stage we estimate over 1,000 passengers (missed their flights). We will be doing a final tally with all our airline partners and customers again this morning to ascertain the final number.
“But certainly at this stage, it’s well over 1,000 passengers, and we unreservedly apologise.”
The airport was running smoothly by Monday. All available staff will be deployed over the upcoming June bank holiday weekend.
“We will have all the staff available,” said Mr. Cullinane. “including our task force – deployed again this weekend. And we’ll be doing our level best to make sure that everyone makes their flight this weekend.
“We’re conscious that we let ourselves and we let the nation down yesterday, and we certainly don’t want to repeat of that on our watch this weekend.”
Passengers arriving at Belfast and Dublin have also been affected by disruption to EasyJet flights over the past week and including the weekend.
Passengers were left stranded after the airline cancelled services. EasyJet are blaming “various operational and supply chain issues” for the flight cancellations.
