Flight delays are continuing at Dublin airport his afternoon after the recent failure of the radar system.
In a statement issued this morning, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said operational capacity at the airport is running at over 80 per cent, ensuring air traffic control services will meet demand for most of the day. But the IAA warned that some delays were likely at peak times.
The IAA said some delays may also be the result of factors beyond its direct control, such as weather or congestion in European airspace.
Nearly all flights scheduled to arrive this morning suffered delays, although these were generally between 15 and 45 minutes. A Ryanair flight due to arrive from Venice at 11.40am touched down shortly after 1.30pm.
Flights from Prague, Atlanta, Berlin, Brussels, Paris, Exeter, Cardiff, Frankfurt and Copenhagen were also delayed.
An Air France flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport due to land at 1.35pm arrived shortly after 3pm. A Flightline flight from Napoli due in Dublin at 2.45pm is not now due to land until 5.15pm.
Airport information screens listed delays ranging from 15 minutes to one hour on about a dozen flights out of the airport up to lunchtime. Two of the worst affected flights were one to Orlando, Florida, due to leave at 8.30am but which had still not left by 2pm, and a flight to Gdansk, Poland, that had a 11.30am departure slot but is now down to leave at 15.35pm.
Other flights delayed included Flybe's flight BE304 to Exeter, which was due to depart at 11.35am but which departed late at 2.46pm.
Most flights up to lunchtime departed within about half an hour of their scheduled time.
At 10am, the airport was no busier than on a normal Friday afternoon in July and queues at check-in and ticket desks were moving quickly. But many passengers scanned the large screens to check for any signs of delays to their flights.
Passengers checking in in the departures area included Lesley Burdon from New Zealand, who had just spent three weeks on holiday in Ireland and was travelling to Manchester. Her travelling companion, also from New Zealand, was leaving for Leeds.
Initial information given to Ms Burdon suggested her flight was on time, she said. However, she later discovered her flight had been cancelled.
"It would have been a big problem for us if it had been delayed at the other end of the trip," she said.
"We had important family business to attend to."
Martha Quinlan, from Killeshin, Co Carlow, was due to travel to Barcelona with Ryanair on Wednesday with her husband and two children but the flight was cancelled. They returned to Carlow and drove back to Dublin today, where they booked a flight to Madrid that was due to leave at 2.25pm.
“We aren’t too bad. We have two grown children. But I saw a lot of young people and non-nationals. I saw a lot of young people with no money and onward flights," Ms Quinlan said.
Others hoping to travel today included athletes with the Olympian Gymnastics club from Templeogue, Dublin, who are due to compete in a week-long festival in Albi in the south of France.
Jenny Carr, an adult supervising the group of 17 gymnasts aged between 12 and 18, said she believed the flight to Toulouse was set to leave on time this afternoon. The flight left at 1.03pm, within 15 minutes of its scheduled time.
The scale of the delays has eased since yesterday. A spokeswoman for the Dublin Airport Authority said it appeared traffic was moving “fairly well” this morning. “I think people are being ok as long as they know they are going to make their flight,” she said.
She added that comments this morning by Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary in which he warned of flight disruption over the weekend were “exaggerated”.
Aer Lingus said passengers should expect delays throughout the day but added that those traveling today and over the weekend should arrive in time for scheduled departures.
Ryanair said its flights were suffering delays of up to one hour this morning and said that “significant delays and cancellations” could not be ruled out later due to what it said was the “unjustified and unacceptable failure” of the radar system.
The system was shut down for a time on Wednesday after breaking down twice and at one point was operating at 50 per cent capacity. The five-year-old radar system has malfunctioned five times in as many weeks, the IAA has admitted.
The IAA said its engineers and French electronics manufacturer Thales have identified the source of the malfunction, and that a repeat of the problem is not expected.
A spokeswoman for the IAA said, in the interest of safety, it was continuing with its cautious, incremental and phased approach to bringing the radar system back up to full capacity.
Air Lingus's customer contact centre is 0818 365 044. Passengers from outside of Ireland should call 00353 1 8868690.
Ryanair passengers are advised to check the carrier’s website www.ryanair.com for flight information.