Business at Dublin airport was returning to normal today on a phased basis after five days of disruption due to the volcanic ash cloud.
The airport said only passengers with confirmed reservations for flights due to operate today should go to the airport, however. The Dublin Airport Authority said passengers were “strongly advised” to consult with their airline’s website before going to the airport.
Shortly after 6pm, the airport very much appeared to have returned to normal. The departures area was almost empty, and very few flights were delayed or cancelled. There were no queues, and the ticket desks and information areas were dealing with just a few enquiries from passengers.
One flight to Copenhagen due at 6.40pm was delayed until 9pm. But flights to Galway, Riga, Vilnius and Glasgow later all looked as though they were on schedule.
The arrivals hall was much busier with incoming passenger traffic and people waiting to greet them. Flights from Bologne, Bordeaux, Amsterdam, the Isle of Man and Memmingen had all landed in a 10-minute period before 6pm and passengers quickly streamed through.
Earlier in the day, flights from Lanzarote, Tenerife, Malaga, London, Cardiff, Donegal, Gran Canaria, Jersey and Frankfurt had landed on time or within minutes of their expected arrival.
Dublin airport communications manager Siobhan Moore said there had been a “very smooth, seamless” start-up this morning at the time of the busiest passenger traffic. “It went very well,” she said.
“We have pretty much a normal flight schedule today with the exception of Ryanair, who have a limited operation to Europe. But other than that, it’s gone very well.”
Ms Moore said she expected all other flights would operate as normal today.
“The big challenge now is for the airlines to re-accommodate the passengers who have been left without.”
A phased start-up had helped and meant there was not a “glut” of pressure on the facilities at the same time. The restoration of business as usual was “such a relief all round” for everyone at the airport. It was a relief to see passengers buzzing around again, Ms Moore added.
Aer Lingus and Ryanair both expect to restore normal service over the next two days if the volcanic ash cloud stays out of Irish airspace.
Aer Lingus said all flights between Ireland and the UK, Europe and US are scheduled to operate tomorrow, Friday April 23rd.
It will provide 500 extra seats to accommodate the maximum number of passengers travelling on the Malaga, Madrid, Lanzarote, Lisbon and Rome routes.
Ryanair said all flights between Ireland and Britain, including domestic routes, will resume normal schedules from 5am tomorrow. It is also making extra flights available from Ireland to European destinations, and from Britain to Europe, tomorrow.
Easyjet said it would fly a full schedule of over 1,100 flights today, following a nearly normal schedule yesterday.
The airline said it expected seats would be available on most flights for the coming days as passengers with reservations have made alternative arrangements.
The Government Taskforce on Emergency Planning met this morning for the eighth time to discuss the ongoing issue involving the ash cloud.
The number of calls to the crisis response centre operated by the Department of Foreign Affairs reduced “very substantially” to 150 calls yesterday, down from 808 on Tuesday and 1,100 on Monday, the taskforce said.
It said the centre remained open to deal with outstanding queries, including some instances where travellers are stranded in long-haul destinations.
Met Éireann reported that the forecast shows the ash plume will be well away from Irish airspace over the next four to five days.
The Environmental Protection Agency said there had been no deterioration of air quality associated with the volcanic ash plume.
“Advice to the taskforce remains that any ash likely to come to ground in the coming days will be minimal and have no impact on health, drinking water or the environment generally,” a statement said.