Passengers queue outside airport from early morning as Easter rush begins

Passengers queued outside Dublin Airport on Saturday morning as new arrangements to tackle delays ahead of the busy Easter break got under way.

The airport had asked passengers to arrive up to three-and-a-half hours before their flight departure time.

A number of passengers posted videos on social media showing queues outside Terminal 1.

A statement on the Dublin Airport Twitter feed said: “We are currently filtering passengers into the terminal buildings in an orderly manner to join check in & security queues which are moving & we thank passengers for their cooperation & patience at this extremely busy time of the morning in advance of the first wave of departures.”

Airport operator daa said on Twitter: “Passengers were heeding our advice from very early this morning to arrive at the airport up to three and a half hours before their departure time.

“This resulted in us having to stagger the flow of passengers into the terminals which was well managed by Airport Police.”

The airport this week announced a five-point strategy after lengthy queues in recent weeks sparked concern from government and complaints from some passengers that they had missed their flights.

The queues were attributed to delays at security screening during peak times.

The airport said it had been trying to rebound from the impact of the pandemic and blamed shortages in fully trained staff working at the country’s busiest airport.

They advised passengers to arrive at the airport a minimum of three-and-a-half hours prior to their departure time over the busy Easter period.

Other measures being taken include the recruitment and training of additional security screening staff, deployment of a task force, a targeted communication campaign and keeping security in Terminal 1 open 24/7 to reduce the build-up of queues.

There have been calls for the Defence Forces to be called in to help.

But Minister of Defence Simon Coveney has said he was “not very keen” on the idea of deploying troops at the airport.