TRAVEL
On the Ascent Dublin Airport has set itself a target to process 98% of all passengers through its security screening area in 15 minutes or less, no mean feat considering the airport is now handling more than 100,000 passengers daily during peak season and 31.5 million passengers annually. Emma Deighan chats with Vincent Harrison, Managing Director of daa. Vincent opens up his daa app to reveal the security times at the facility’s two terminals. It’s something he keeps a close eye on given the Airport has grown 50% over a short space of time. “It can be challenging at times but it’s something that we focus on hugely,” says Vincent. Under regulation Dublin Airport’s security queue times are monitored closely and it will be subject to nasty fines should the lines breach the 30-minute mark. “We have invested in resources throughout the airport because we are conscious of the impact time has on people and we focus on the entire passenger journey,” continues Vincent. The investment towards good timekeeping extends beyond human resources, of which there are some 20,000 people making up the “small city” that is Dublin Airport. Over 3,000 of those are employed directly by daa. And even with extra staff and the help of technology, it’s still no easy task because after coming out of the recession, Dublin Airport has experienced phenomenal growth in the number of travellers, airlines and services. Vincent says the scale of operations “has fundamentally changed” since he began
working there in 2005. He became MD in 2014. “We’ve gone from over 20 million passengers to over 31 million in a relatively short space of time,” he says. “We have come out of a downturn into really rapid growth and that growth has been across the board; growth from existing customers and a whole increase in the broader base of airlines. We have 50% more passengers, but we also have 100% more airlines,” he explains. Technology is playing a key role in helping to improve the passenger experience. For example, INIS, the Irish Naturalisation Immigration Services, which has responsibility for Passport Control, has introduced new e-gates with flatbed scanners. This allows passengers to self-scan “a bit like the self-checkout in the supermarket” which helps greatly in passengers processing themselves through this area quickly. The e-gates also use facial recognition technology and are connected to national and international watch lists. It’s a technological move that keeps the queues running at a good pace. The route network from Dublin now rivals most of Europe’s major airports. Its two anchor airlines; Aer Lingus and Ryanair have provided a massive
Vincent Harrison, Managing Director of daa.
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increased in routes and additional capacity to America and Europe respectively. And last year daa reached a milestone when it began its first services into Asia – to Hong Kong and Beijing with new airlines Cathay Pacific and Hainan Airlines. “Recently American Airlines started a new direct service to Dallas and WestJet launched a new service to Calgary. Aer Lingus has been a key driver of the growth to the US and it will start a new direct service to Minneapolis St Paul in July. We were delighted to add Moscow to our route network which was previously an unserved destination for us,” adds Vincent. Also fuelling the growth in destinations, particularly to the West, is the burgeoning tech scene in Ireland, namely Dublin. Vincent says the investment of US firms like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and LinkedIn has demanded new routes to places like Seattle. “They’re growing so fast and that emergence of the tech sector has been a prominent part of our growth because those workers require connectivity. “In many instances, of the people they employ, 50-90% are non-Irish nationals and they have families visiting too and that also fuels the growth.”