How does Dublin Airport work?

For this week’s edition of ‘Ask Me Anything’ on Lunchtime Live, Andrea spoke to Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) media relations manager Graeme McQueen.

He said lots of changes are happening at the country's largest transport hub, from supports for those with disabilities to new liquid scanners and AI technology.

Mr McQueen said there’s never a quiet day at Dublin Airport.

“It’s a busy job, a busy airport – it never sleeps really,” he said.

“We’re coming into the busy time of the year, the weekend just gone was the busiest of the year so far and it only gets busier from here.”

How does Dublin Airport work?

The media manager said one of the most common questions he’s asked is about parking capacity.

“We’ve got about 23,000 spaces on the campus and we can’t magic up any more than that,” he said.

“The former QuickPark site is still closed and that’s 6,000 spaces, if we had those available to the market it would ease pressure significantly.

“We put in a bid to buy it, and that bid was accepted but the competition authority rejected that bid so we walked away from that now.

“We are looking at any option we can to increase the amount of car parking spaces at the airport because we owe that to our passengers.”

A taxi queue at Dublin Airport, 10-9-11. Image: Radharc Images / Alamy

Mr McQueen said the airport is striving to be as accessible as possible to those with neurodivergent needs.

“We’ve got special autism rooms in both terminals now, T1 and T2, they are quiet spaces full of sensory-friendly things,” he said.

“You can go in there before the flight to calm everyone down, it’s not just for kids as some adults use it as well and you don’t need to book it.”

Queue skip

There’s also an option to skip queues for those who have kids with special needs and find them difficult.

“If you go on the website, you can fill out a form and get a lanyard specifically for people with hidden disabilities,” he said.

“It takes a couple of weeks to come through after applying but it allows you to skip queues and get through the airport nice and quickly.”

Passengers move through security scanning in the departures hall of Dublin Airport's Terminal One in October 2019. Picture by: Piere Bonbon / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr McQueen said new scanners at security will soon be a game changer for passengers travelling with liquids.

“We’re rolling out new C3 scanners and we’re almost there in T2 which will be finished by October of this year and T1 the October after that,” he said.

“About 50% of our customers this summer will go through one of these scanners.

“The team will tell you when you arrive at the screening lane whether you're using a new scanner and you can leave your liquids in your bag.”

AI

Mr McQueen said the DAA is also advancing AI use at the airport.

“We’re looking at AI for all sorts of reasons at the airport and we have an AI store at T1 now which is basically like a vending machine, he said.

“You tap your card when you go in, you pick up your items and walk out and it's deducted from your card and we’re also looking at bringing AI elsewhere in the terminals”.

The airport's communications manager said any use of AI in the terminals will be subject to "tight regulations".

Main image: Graeme McQueen alongside Lunchtime Live host Andrea Gilligan. Image: Newstalk