Ryanair has issued a scathing assessment of long queues at Dublin Airport, accusing airport operator daa of “mismanaging the Covid recovery” and “stranding thousands of airport passengers”.
The budget airline said passengers were being left “stranded” in “long security queues that wind outside the terminal building”.
CEO Eddie Wilson called on the daa to “concentrate on fixing recruitment to deliver an efficient customer service through security”.
READ MORE: Dublin Airport LIVE updates as queues snake outside departures for second day running
The low cost carrier hit out at the airport as it rejected proposed price increases.
It said the daa is seeking an 88% price increase from 2023 on “its already high” airport charges.
Ryanair said there was “no justification” for the “shocking price increase”
Mr Wilson added: “The daa have mismanaged the recovery from the Covid crisis and are now seeking to jeopardise the future growth and development of Irish tourism with this price gouging application for an 88% increase in airport charges.
"We call on the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, to protect Irish aviation, Irish tourism and the daa itself from a traffic collapse and issue a shareholder direction to the daa to abandon any application for cost increases at Dublin Airport.”
Over 1,000 passengers missed their flights on Sunday as gardai had to control crowds in a day of chaos at the airport.
Large queues formed outside both terminals from early hours amid a shortage of staff for security checks.
Some travellers reported waiting up to three hours just to get inside the building.
The Head of Communications for daa this morning “unreservedly apologised” as he admitted “well over 1,000 passengers” missed their flights on Sunday.
Kevin Cullinane told RTE’s Morning Ireland: "Yesterday morning when we opened security in terminal one and terminal two, we clearly didn't have enough security lanes open due to resourcing challenges, and at the moment, any absenteeism impacts on our ability to operate lanes."
Mr Cullinane said an additional 370 additional officers are due to start in July.
It comes as officials from daa are meeting Minister for International Transport Hildegarde Naughton this morning to better understand the cause of the situation and what needs to be done to resolve the problem.
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