The Dublin Airport Authority has said additional staff and new security channels are to be introduced to tackle long queues at the terminal building.
The move comes as Aer Lingus revealed that some 200 passengers missed flights due to delays caused by enhanced security measures introduced at Dublin airport over the last 10 days.
Meanwhile, the country's second largest tour operator, Falcon/JWT, warned yesterday that there could be further chaotic scenes at the airport if action was not taken before the start of the main package holiday season next week.
A spokesman for the airport authority told The Irish Times last night that it was looking urgently at the provision of an additional three security channels.
There are currently 11 security channels for passengers.
The spokesman said 20 additional security staff would be placed on roster for duty from this weekend. A further 40 security personnel are in training.
"There will be some engineering to be done, but we would hope to have up to three additional security channels on stream within a few weeks," the spokesman said.
The authority is also to establish a taskforce to assist in the management of queues for security and the provision of information to passengers.
The screening of passengers and their carry-on baggage has been stepped up considerably in recent days at Dublin airport following the identification of major lapses in an official audit which saw knives and a replica bomb being smuggled through security checks.
As part of the enhanced security measures, staff have increased the frequency of random checks on passengers' clothing, footwear and carry-on baggage.
At one stage last weekend, long queues for the security channels, comprising several hundred people, looped around the entire terminal building, causing many passengers to miss flights.
"The delays are longer as a result of the new security measures. There is no way around that. However, the processes in place to alleviate these are working. At peak travel periods during the week the average time in the queue for security was around 15 minutes," the Dublin Airport Authority spokesman told The Irish Times.
The managing director of Falcon/JWT, Damien Mooney, said yesterday that the situation faced by passengers at the airport last weekend had been "wholly inappropriate".
He said chaos could return unless action was taken by the authorities in the airport prior to the start of the peak package holiday season after the May Bank Holiday.
Mr Mooney urged intending charter passengers to check in three hours before departure time.
Meanwhile, Aer Lingus revealed yesterday that around 200 of its passengers missed their flights over the last 10 days or so since the introduction of the heightened security measures at Dublin airport.
The company's head of operations, Dick Butler, said around 130 flights had been delayed because of the new security measures. He said these delays were largely caused by having to remove the baggage of passengers who failed to arrive in time for departure.
Aer Lingus said that its check-in facilities at Dublin airport were now opening at 4am, while its fast-track automatic service was in operation from 3.30am.
