Severe disruption at Dublin Airport due to gusting winds

Flights into Dublin have suffered severe disruption with the onset of heavy gusting winds impeding their ability to land.

For a period of 20 minutes from about 10pm, no planes were able to land due to the potentially hazardous conditions, although some managed to take advantage of lulls in the weather later on.

By 11pm, 11 Aer Lingus and one Ryanair flight had been diverted.

Due to the time of night, it was mainly incoming flights that were affected. Conditions effected landing ability, but were not believed to be a threat to planes in the air.

A spokeswoman for the Dublin Airport Authority said those awaiting the arrival of flights, or checking to see if departures would proceed, should monitor individual airline information services for updates.

It was unclear how long the conditions would last, but the airport has not closed.

Earlier there were about 20 planes in holding patterns off the east coast, awaiting an opportunity to touch down.

By that stage, some were opting to divert to Shannon where conditions were easier, although possibly with a view to return to Dublin where time and conditions permitted.

Met Éireann had issued a status orange weather warning of southwest to west winds with mean speeds of 50km to 75km, although gusting to between 90km and 120km.

In such conditions, an aircraft’s ability to land depended on a number of factors including the severity of gusts on approach and the capacity of individual aircraft types.