New holding area planned in Dublin airport for passengers who arrive too early

Access to terminals at Dublin Airport at busy periods will be limited to two-and-a-half hours for short haul flights and three-and-a-half hours for long haul flights with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) set to introduce a new holding area for early passengers.

The new system has been described as triaging access to the terminals.

It is expected that that a new holding area for passengers who arrive too early for their flights will be in operation from this weekend.

Lengthy queues and chaos at the airport last weekend saw more than 1,000 people miss their flights on Sunday.

This led to an an urgent plan being requested by ministers Eamon Ryan and Hildegard Naughton.

This is due to be revealed by DAA chief Dalton Philips to the Oireachtas Transport Committee on Wednesday afternoon.

It is expected that the DAA will tell the committee that passengers arriving too early for their flights will be asked to wait in a passenger holding area.

Passengers looking to access the terminals will be asked to present documentation to indicate departure times.

The DAA says it will put in place bad weather cover, seating, and toilets in the holding area as quickly as possible in the coming days following a trial run of this system over the June Bank Holiday Weekend.