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Articles > Europe > Ireland > Dublin > Dublin Airport: Past, Present and Future
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Dublin Airport: Past, Present and Future
Situated just north of Dublin City, Dublin Airport (Aerfort Bhaile Atha Cliath in Irish) was built on the site of an old royal Air Force base at Collinstown. After the Irish Free State was established, Baldonnel Aerodrome was the airport of choice. It was used by Iona National Airways (1931) and Aer Lingus (1935) before transferring to the Collinstown site in 1940. Today Baldonnel Aerodrome is home to the Irish Army's Air Force division.
Construction began on the new airport at Collinstown in 1937 and within a couple of years there was a grass runway, roadways, car parking facilities and electrical infrastructure constructed. The first flight from Dublin Airport took place in 1940 and soon afterwards, construction work began on a new terminal building which subsequently opened in 1941. Today this building is still used, and still stands out as an excellent piece of architecture. Designed to replicate the bridge of a ship, the building is today listed as one of the buildings that must be preserved in Ireland.
During the 1950s Dublin Airport grew and improvements were added to the airport continuously, including a longer runway and improvements to the terminals in order to deal with the expanded traffic levels. New airlines started to fly out of Dublin Airport including Sabena and British European Airways.
By 1958 Aer Lingus was flying from Dublin Airport, through Shannon Airport to America. The airport continued to evolve to keep up with the traffic levels that were increasing every year. By 1969 nearly 2 million passengers had travelled through Dublin Airport.
During the early 1970s, Dublin Airport had to evolve yet again to cope with more modern aircraft and increasing passenger numbers as Aer Lingus started operating Boeing 747 aircraft. The expected explosion in growth in this industry during the 70s fail to show because of concerns over rising prices of oil and the disturbing troubles in Northern Ireland.
The 80s for Dublin Airport was a period of expansion through increased routes between the UK and Ireland alongside the servicing of the regional airports in Ireland by Aer Lingus. Examples of these are Tralee, Sligo, Shannon, Cork and Galway. By the end of the 80s passenger numbers passing through Dublin Airport had swelled to over 5million annually.
During the 1990s Dublin Airport enjoyed rapid growth in passenger levels as the Celtic Tiger meant that people in Ireland had vast amounts of expendable income for the first time. Low cost operators such as Ryan Air fed into this expanded business. With passenger levels increasing annually, the future for Dublin Airport looked to be good.
Ten years ago passenger levels were around 7 million. 17 million people travelled through Dublin Airport in 2004 and while in 2005 18.4 million people travelled through the airport which was the 14th consecutive year of passenger number growth at Dublin Airport. Amazingly passenger numbers travelling through Dublin Airport have grown at a rate of 1million passengers per year.
In an ideal world, Dublin Airport would have continuously adapted and expanded to keep up with these amazing numbers. Unfortunately now, Dublin Airport is an airport that is ill equipped to deal with these numbers. Today, conditions at Dublin Airport are less than ideal when compared with airports around the world which are adapted and planned to deal with expanded passenger numbers. Rather than an intelligent forward looking planning process for the expansion of Dublin Airport, it seems to be reactionary.
Passenger opinions for Dublin Airport are almost unanimous in their criticism for the airport. Where as other airport around the world are spacious and clean with modern equipment, Dublin airport seems to be very outdated. Part of the problem for Dublin Airport is that it has confined itself in on a postage stamp size of land which has meant expansion difficult if not near impossible. While Dublin Airport's future may be rosier, there is no doubt that in its current state it is unsuitable for the purpose it is serving.
Currently Dublin Airport is an airport under pressure with outdated facilities and not enough room to deal with the ever increasing passenger numbers. The future for Dublin Airport is looking better and better with plans to build a second and third terminal very slowly taking shape.
The planned expansion of Dublin Airport will cater for 38 million passengers annually; more than double the current number of passengers travelling through Dublin Airport at present. Announced in May 2005 by the then Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, and the terminal is to be built by 2009. The new terminal is due to be accompanied by a new runway which will cater for the new breed or aircraft such as the Airbus A380.
There are many parties interested in building the terminals; including Ryan Air, but to date there have been no more developments on the issue. The proposed development has met with some criticism, particularly by residents of the nearby areas which do not want to see increased air traffic travelling through Dublin Airport.
For the majority of Irish people, the building of these additional terminals can not come quick enough.
Construction began on the new airport at Collinstown in 1937 and within a couple of years there was a grass runway, roadways, car parking facilities and electrical infrastructure constructed. The first flight from Dublin Airport took place in 1940 and soon afterwards, construction work began on a new terminal building which subsequently opened in 1941. Today this building is still used, and still stands out as an excellent piece of architecture. Designed to replicate the bridge of a ship, the building is today listed as one of the buildings that must be preserved in Ireland.
During the 1950s Dublin Airport grew and improvements were added to the airport continuously, including a longer runway and improvements to the terminals in order to deal with the expanded traffic levels. New airlines started to fly out of Dublin Airport including Sabena and British European Airways.
By 1958 Aer Lingus was flying from Dublin Airport, through Shannon Airport to America. The airport continued to evolve to keep up with the traffic levels that were increasing every year. By 1969 nearly 2 million passengers had travelled through Dublin Airport.
During the early 1970s, Dublin Airport had to evolve yet again to cope with more modern aircraft and increasing passenger numbers as Aer Lingus started operating Boeing 747 aircraft. The expected explosion in growth in this industry during the 70s fail to show because of concerns over rising prices of oil and the disturbing troubles in Northern Ireland.
The 80s for Dublin Airport was a period of expansion through increased routes between the UK and Ireland alongside the servicing of the regional airports in Ireland by Aer Lingus. Examples of these are Tralee, Sligo, Shannon, Cork and Galway. By the end of the 80s passenger numbers passing through Dublin Airport had swelled to over 5million annually.
During the 1990s Dublin Airport enjoyed rapid growth in passenger levels as the Celtic Tiger meant that people in Ireland had vast amounts of expendable income for the first time. Low cost operators such as Ryan Air fed into this expanded business. With passenger levels increasing annually, the future for Dublin Airport looked to be good.
Ten years ago passenger levels were around 7 million. 17 million people travelled through Dublin Airport in 2004 and while in 2005 18.4 million people travelled through the airport which was the 14th consecutive year of passenger number growth at Dublin Airport. Amazingly passenger numbers travelling through Dublin Airport have grown at a rate of 1million passengers per year.
In an ideal world, Dublin Airport would have continuously adapted and expanded to keep up with these amazing numbers. Unfortunately now, Dublin Airport is an airport that is ill equipped to deal with these numbers. Today, conditions at Dublin Airport are less than ideal when compared with airports around the world which are adapted and planned to deal with expanded passenger numbers. Rather than an intelligent forward looking planning process for the expansion of Dublin Airport, it seems to be reactionary.
Passenger opinions for Dublin Airport are almost unanimous in their criticism for the airport. Where as other airport around the world are spacious and clean with modern equipment, Dublin airport seems to be very outdated. Part of the problem for Dublin Airport is that it has confined itself in on a postage stamp size of land which has meant expansion difficult if not near impossible. While Dublin Airport's future may be rosier, there is no doubt that in its current state it is unsuitable for the purpose it is serving.
Currently Dublin Airport is an airport under pressure with outdated facilities and not enough room to deal with the ever increasing passenger numbers. The future for Dublin Airport is looking better and better with plans to build a second and third terminal very slowly taking shape.
The planned expansion of Dublin Airport will cater for 38 million passengers annually; more than double the current number of passengers travelling through Dublin Airport at present. Announced in May 2005 by the then Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, and the terminal is to be built by 2009. The new terminal is due to be accompanied by a new runway which will cater for the new breed or aircraft such as the Airbus A380.
There are many parties interested in building the terminals; including Ryan Air, but to date there have been no more developments on the issue. The proposed development has met with some criticism, particularly by residents of the nearby areas which do not want to see increased air traffic travelling through Dublin Airport.
For the majority of Irish people, the building of these additional terminals can not come quick enough.
About the Author
Ronan Menton is the webmaster for a number of travel related websites and has been for some time in Ireland, associated with search engine optimisation in the Irish travel industry. He spends two months a year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and now sees it as his second home. For further information check: hotels in Cork.
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Total views: 836
Word count: 836
Character count: 5342
Article rating: 5.00 out of 5.00
Number of votes: 1
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