dublin airport terminal

[A-ha]

a sensible thing to do would be to build extra large just in case. get things right at the begining. think things through properly. it is mad that in london for example some of the tube lines don't allow much room between the train and the roof of the tunnel

alpha, you have to remember that some of the tube lines in London were built either over a hundred years ago or else during the aftermath of two world wars, but I do agree, everything should be made bigger "just in case". If Aer Lingus have big plans for opening up long haul routes from Dublin, then they should suggest to the DAA that they don't want to operate in an airport that can't accomadate large aircraft. If the airport wants to open it's self up to the world and act as a "gateway" then their gonna have to do better. The airport wont be viable in the future if it can't cater for modern planes..... Boeing 747's are already outdated, with the larger airlines like British Airways, Lufthansa and Emirites replacing a portion of their 747 fleet with the new Airbus A380. I just think that the DAA should think more along the lines of Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle, instead of just fixing an overcrowding problem, they should be thinking of the airports growth aswell.

[alpha]

exaclty. i guess if they are going to spend billions on these things they should do them right. we really do overspend in this country and sometimes with disastrous results. the m50 should have been built with more lanes all them years ago.

[dodger]

I don't understand why they have to raise the landing charge by 50% (from e5 to e 7.5). After all the terminal is due to cost only 200 million and the extra 15 million passengers will pay 75million in charges a year at the current rate!

[crestfield]

The digram in the Irish Times appears to show a yellow line in front of the Desmond Fitzgearld building, does any one know what this implies, it is as if it is indicating alteration to the ground floor of the building. Also any opinions on how the new buildings will impact on the original terminal.

As regards Corballis House I would think of it fondly, and I believe that opinion is shaired, Pat Liddy the Dublin artist and historion considers it worthy of an entry in his first book "Dublin Today", it contains an illistation and potted history of the house. Well worth a look.

[archipig]

crestfield, Thats a curved walkway, designed by skidmore/owens/merril. It and pier D already have planning permission.

[notjim]

so i said this already but i am amazed there has been less discussion on the topic:

a) a curved walkway means no moving walkway!
b) it appears to obscure the airside view of the old terminal!

[archipig]

notjim, I remember reading a description a few years ago of the walkway. I think I rcall it is to be elevated, so probably more slender and less obtrusive than one fears (the grahpic in the presentation is'nt great, is it). Thats all I can remember sorry. Pier D is designed for Low Cost Airlines, so I guess travelators are'nt important to Michael O leary et al, but I expect there will be such along the straight part of the pier of course.

[electrolyte]

http://www.capitasymonds.co.uk/projects/content/projects_696.asp?print=1

I think this might be what you're referring to......but i think its the wrong way around to work in the new design.

God, imagine the hike from one end of the new airport to the next....imagine flying into the existing Pier B from somewhere European to connect to a new "long haul" onward flight leaving from the new Northern Extension, and having to walk all the way there. Maybe a mini transit system should be investigated. I know, say transit to the powers that be and its "ugh, eh, eek, hmmm, arggh..." but surely they could do small scale......surely.

No, actually I dont trust them.

[archipig]

I definitly heard of a walkway by SOM, maybe the media got it wrong. I know they also did a report but im sure I heard of them doing a curved walkway aswell. That other design looks ok, doenent ruin the old terminal. Not mad on the suspension design though.Imagine seeing the old terminal lit up at night from that walkway. Another thing that concerns me from the presentations timescale list is that it looks like the road system will be the last phase to be built. How daft is that? Ariel photo:

http://perljam.net/google-satellite-maps/id/4887/Ireland//Dublin/Dublin_International_Airport

[Paul Clerkin]

The digram in the Irish Times appears to show a yellow line in front of the Desmond Fitzgearld building, does any one know what this implies, it is as if it is indicating alteration to the ground floor of the building. Also any opinions on how the new buildings will impact on the original terminal.

Yeah it does look like the ground floor of the original terminal is to be further compromised. Howver these are only site models so we'll have to reserve architectural opiniojn until furthe rimages are released.

[adhoc]

An Bord Pleanála gave permission for an elevated, elipitical, connecting corridor to be run through the car park in front (i.e. land-side) of the OTB - overruling the inspector's report. There is no permission fo the link illustrated in the DAA document.

Inspector's <a href="http://www.pleanala.ie/REP/200/R200940.DOC">report</a>.
Board's <a href="http://www.pleanala.ie/DCT/200/S200940.DOC">direction</a>.

[dowlingm]

I suspect the increase in pax charge is due to 10L/28R (parallel runway).

MOL is going to be annoyed - Stansted got a lash in the meeja from Ryanair about rolling a huge amount of airport upgrading into a terminal upgrade (90m which BAA represented as 3bn or something).

[PVC King]

DAA warning despite profits hike

April 10, 2006 14:44
Dublin Airport Authority's profits increased by 63% to €50m last year.

The organisation is currently responsible for airports at the capital, Cork and Shannon. It has warned that it needs to recoup more money from customers if its to deliver the planned €1.2 billion expansion of Dublin Airport.

Combined passenger numbers at the three airports rose by 12.4% to 24.5 million. Dublin numbers were up 8% to 18.5 million, while Shannon and Cork recorded increases of 35% and 21% respectively.


The authority's chairman Gary McGann said the aviation regulator needed to review passenger charges, which he described as 'unsatisfactory'. Last week an appeals panel referred aspects of the decision back to the Commission for Aviation Regulation.

Chief executive Declan Collier said a planning application for the second terminal at Dublin Airport would be lodged in the summer. He also said DAA profit levels were well below those of other airport groups.

The results also confirmed the poor financial position of the Great Southern Hotels Group, as losses rose by €1.8m to €4m. The hotels are up for sale, and further developments on the process are expected in the coming months.

But profits at Aer Rianta International almost doubled to €17.4m.

I wonder will this lodgement date be met?

[PVC King]

Opposition from heritage campaigners to use of the old central terminal building at Dublin Airport is set to add an additional €7 million to the cost of the Pier D facility. The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) is attempting to have the new €100 million Pier D facility completed by a Government deadline of October 2007. In order to meet this deadline the authority was hoping to gain access through the old central terminal building (OCTB), but this would involved structural changes to what is a protected structure of national importance. The Pier D facility was scheduled to cost about €100 million, but the problems with access through the OCTB could push this figure higher. The DAA is facing a number of financial pressures at the airport. Its plans for a second terminal have had to be revisited after airlines indicated they wanted a 50 per cent increase in the size of the facility. The authority is also under pressure to pay for all the new infrastructure, which is going to cost €1.2 billion. So far the aviation regulator has only permitted the company to levy a €6.14 per passenger charge. The DAA says this is not enough to fund all the developments planned. The architect of the old central terminal building was Desmond FitzGerald. The curved building was designed to echo the lines of the bridge of a great ocean liner and won many architectural design awards.

Is there any more info on this?

I could be wrong but isn't the lower floor of this building already used as an overflow for pier A at peak times.

[Paul Clerkin]

It is, I've flown out of the older building on flights to Edinburgh

[Alek Smart]

I`m beginning to wonder if we in Ireland have any REAL gra for this 21st century economy nonsense at all,especially when it comes to our Air Travel arrangements.

I attended a public meeting over three years ago now in thew CityWest Hotel (Hmmmm).
It was a presentation by Tony Ryan the doyen of RyanAir and it showcased that companies proposal to develop Baldonnel Aerodrome as its Dublin Hub.
Under the Ryanair plan the Ryans would not only supply the Air Corps with a fully functional HQ but would construct a seperate network of access roads to both the N7 and N4 Trunk Roads at NO charge to the State.
Added to this was the proximity of the LUAS Red Line which would be a stones throw from Belgard Station (Immediately beneath The Flight Path in fact)

Well Holy God .....The reaction of much of the audience was akin to being asked to eat goats dung .
"Wa about the Noize"
"Wa about de Traffik"
"Wa about the Sheep"
And so on and so forth ad nauseum......

As Dublin continues to expand in it`s presently unplanned,uncontrolled,unsupervised manner it struck me that Dr Ryans proposal was one of the few I had come across where the proponents had taken a look at the ACTUALITY of where the City is rather than some happy clappy vaporous concept drawn on an Apple Mac screen.

Yet today we are no nearer to a satisfactory resolution of the Collinstown Chronicles as Dublin Airport struggles to overcome its all to apparent physical limitations as an international Airport.

It appears an eminently sensible solution to allow Dublin to have TWO Airports both from a strategic (Alternate) point of view and a strictly commercial one.
Yet we persist in staring these eminently sensible and commonsense types of solutions before finally walking away shaking our heads and muttering darly about finding some reason NOT to do anything that might smack of REAL progress !!

[darkman]

I`m beginning to wonder if we in Ireland have any REAL gra for this 21st century economy nonsense at all,especially when it comes to our Air Travel arrangements.

I attended a public meeting over three years ago now in thew CityWest Hotel (Hmmmm).
It was a presentation by Tony Ryan the doyen of RyanAir and it showcased that companies proposal to develop Baldonnel Aerodrome as its Dublin Hub.
Under the Ryanair plan the Ryans would not only supply the Air Corps with a fully functional HQ but would construct a seperate network of access roads to both the N7 and N4 Trunk Roads at NO charge to the State.
Added to this was the proximity of the LUAS Red Line which would be a stones throw from Belgard Station (Immediately beneath The Flight Path in fact)

Well Holy God .....The reaction of much of the audience was akin to being asked to eat goats dung .
"Wa about the Noize"
"Wa about de Traffik"
"Wa about the Sheep"
And so on and so forth ad nauseum......

As Dublin continues to expand in it`s presently unplanned,uncontrolled,unsupervised manner it struck me that Dr Ryans proposal was one of the few I had come across where the proponents had taken a look at the ACTUALITY of where the City is rather than some happy clappy vaporous concept drawn on an Apple Mac screen.

Yet today we are no nearer to a satisfactory resolution of the Collinstown Chronicles as Dublin Airport struggles to overcome its all to apparent physical limitations as an international Airport.

It appears an eminently sensible solution to allow Dublin to have TWO Airports both from a strategic (Alternate) point of view and a strictly commercial one.
Yet we persist in staring these eminently sensible and commonsense types of solutions before finally walking away shaking our heads and muttering darly about finding some reason NOT to do anything that might smack of REAL progress !!

Dublin really dosnt need two airports. Dublin Airport and the space it inhabits is under-utilised. There is only 20 million passengers a year going through the Airport:)

[Alek Smart]

Only 20 Million....yes I remember our Taoiseach settling on dis figger and quite correctly pointin out how our new-found wealth was allowin us to travel more...if we would give up all this to`in an fro ìn then Collinstown would be a far nicer place......I totally concur !

[PVC King]

Airport marquee plans hit by glitch

06 June 2006 14:22
The Dublin Airport Authority's plans to build a marquee on top of the multi storey car park in time for the busy summer season have run into difficulty.

The airport authority has only just announced its intention to seek planning permission for the marquee with Fingal County Council.

The council says it has not yet received any application although there have been a number of pre-planning meetings.

After the application has been received, the council has up to eight weeks to make a decision and there is a further four weeks appeal period.

This means construction of the marquee is not likely to start until August at the earliest.

The Dublin Airport Authority wants the marquee to be a temporary waiting area where they can accommodate passengers delayed due to 'unforeseen events' such as strikes or bad weather.

It would hold more than 1,000 people.

The authority had intended the marquee to be in place by the beginning of June.

Construction of the marquee would entail the loss of around 120 car parking spaces.

Although I was no fan of Aer Rianta surely they couldn't have been any worse than this; i.e. unable to submit a planning application for a tent.

Lima has more advanced terminal facilities and that says a lot

[Paul Clerkin]

wohooo a new tent at dublin airport.... sheesh

[a boyle]

this is going to sound like heresy , but i don't think the airport is that busy. hear me out! In almost every airport i have ever been i have always been pretty uncomfortable.

Whenever you check in you are ALWAYS surrounded by far too many people. Whenever you are in the security queue you are ALWAYS surrounded by far too many people, and whenever you are picking up your bags you are surrounded by far too many people. I will admit there have been exceptions but in the main unless the terminal is enormous i have never liked being in an airport.

I fly from dublin at least three times a year and have always had no problem. I do need to point out that i have a very strict approach to the airport. I arrive ON TIME. not early not late , exactly 40 minutes before the flight. I always catch the end of the check in queue (or if at all possible pack a small bag and carry it on board). I then make my way direct to the gate and sit with paper in hand. NO stopping!!.

What i am trying to get at is that i think the airport problems are being hyped up and exacerbated by the dublin airport authority because it is in their interest that the airport look to be bursting at the seams! In this way they can keep adding on little extensions. WHY ? because if you took a look around the terminal any reasonable person would conclude that the best thing to do next is to simply demolish the entire thing and rebuild. They are petrified that somebody anybody will build a new terminal on the east side (where there is only grass). This is because it would be very easy to build a terminal that was so much more efficient that the current one would have to close. it is in bertie's constituency so don't expect anything to happen. the PDs would love to sort out all our transport problems but bertie will have none of it.

[jdivision]

I use it every month and disagree. It depends what time you fly at - there are periods of lull and there's periods of complete madness. As a general rule, If I compare it to other airports, the queues to check in are significantly longer and there's not enough X ray machines used - in general at least half are unmanned. That really needs to be sorted out. I think the idea used in Istanbul of scanning bags before entering the airport is probably a good idea and should be looked at. Oh and the baggage delivery is disgraceful, and is particularly awful on Sunday nights when charter flights are coming back making the problem even worse. A 40 minute wait for bags is a joke

[Frank Taylor]

I fly from dublin at least three times a year and have always had no problem. I do need to point out that i have a very strict approach to the airport. I arrive ON TIME. not early not late , exactly 40 minutes before the flight. I always catch the end of the check in queue (or if at all possible pack a small bag and carry it on board). I then make my way direct to the gate and sit with paper in hand. NO stopping!!.

Aer Lingus is now closing flights 45 minutes prior to departure. This applies even if you check in with a machine and you have no check-in luggage. Otherwise, you then have to beg to be let on at the late desk. This doesn't always work. Aer lingus recommends passengers to check in 2hrs, 30mins early for UK/Europe and 3hrs, 30mins for other flights. Many infrequent flyers follow this advice, so there are more people in the airport at any given time than there needs to be.

The security queue can take 40 minutes to clear at a bad time, so I would arrive an hour early without check-in luggage and 1hr 15mins with luggage. The airport is very quiet from 8pm onwards so it's best to travel the night before if posssible.

The bottlenecks in the airport are parking, check-in, security, baggage reclaim and passport control. It is in the airport authority's interest to maximise the time spent in the airport by passengers to improve revenues from parking and shopping. If the airport becomes so inefficient that it requires a new terminal then people will spend even more time moving between terminals and there will be more car parks, shops and ancillary revenue.

A tent on the roof of a car park is a very funny idea.

Successful airports spend most of their lives under construction. You'd imagine that a requirement when building an airport would be to design it in an extensible fashion. Dublin Airport looks like a bunch of misfit buildings dropped at random from a height .

[PVC King]

Couldn't agree more and comparison with places such Frankfurt, Schipol and Miami is depressing.

Lets talk facts

Application for tent bungled
Additional terminal planned remote from sole access to be provided
Estimated delivery time unknown
Second runway promised delivery date 2008 3-5 years out
Air Cargo total investment since 1988 a 200m wire fence

De Blacham & Meaghars proposal dumped
Rail connection expected 2014-15
The compromising of Fitzgeralds terminal could draw in conservation lobby or others who play that card prolonging the process still further

The tent was a joke the failure to deliver the tent is a firing offence

[SeamusOG]

And by the time they put the tent in it'll probably be needed for the Ryder Cup.