Dublin Airport operator, daa, has said today is the busiest day for the airport ahead of Christmas with 114,000 people expected to travel through arrivals and departures.
Of those figures, 60,000 will be passengers arriving and hundreds of people have been gathering today to meet and greet family members who have been flying into Dublin Airport.
Among those travelling for Christmas were Barbara Harrison and her two children Aisling and Eoin who arrived from Texas to be greeted by Granny Jean Sheehan and Deirdre McGrath (Barbara’s sister).
Jenny Foley and her daughter Kate Foley held up a poster as they waited to surprise Auntie Jess who was flying in from New York.
Jenny said her sister Jess never misses a Christmas at home: “She comes home every year,” she said.
Niall and Tara travelled home to Dublin from Sydney in Australia to celebrate Christmas with family after recently getting engaged.
“It’s Niall’s first time home in two years, and we got engaged recently,” said Tara.
Audrey waited with her two-year-old granddaughter Olivia for Uncle Lee (Audrey’s son) who arrived from Arizona.
Lee said he is looking forward to “a bit of craic over the Christmas”.
He added that coming home for Christmas is the “best time of the year especially when you live away”.
It will be the airport’s busiest festive period ever with a record 1.8 million passengers due to pass through the airport, according to daa.
Last year, 1.47 million passengers travelled through the airport, around 20,000 fewer than in 2023, which the daa said was due to the impact of the passenger cap.
An average of around 96,000 people are expected per day in the 19-day period which began yesterday and will run up to 5 January.
Other busy days at Dublin Airport are expected to both be Sundays – the 21st and 28th – with over 100,000 passengers due to go through the airport each of those days.
Due to the busy period, passengers are advised to arrive two hours in advance of a short-haul flight and three hours in advance of a long-haul flight.
The operator said people can expect a “smooth security experience” with, it said, 95% of passengers getting through the security screening in 20 minutes or under.
The last arrival on Christmas Eve will be an Aer Lingus flight from Tenerife which will land at around 11.15pm.
Shannon Airport said it expects 125,000 passengers over Christmas – marking an increase of 10% on the figure for last year.
The airport said that today and Friday 2 January will be its busiest days.
The daa, which operates Dublin and Cork Airports, appointed Nick Cole to the newly created position of deputy CEO on Monday.
The development follows months of wrangling between the company’s CEO Kenny Jacobs and its board of directors.
It is understood there has been legal correspondence sent by both sides in the dispute.
