Dublin airport opens new gate area

The opening of the new South Gate area will mainly benefit Aer Lingus passengers flying from the UK and continental Europe.

It features five boarding gates and parking for nine aircraft and is part of a €100 million upgrade at Dublin airport this year.

“The huge growth that we have had in passenger numbers in recent years created significant demand for extra boarding gate space and aircraft parking stands and this new facility meets those requirements in a modern flexible way,” said the airport’s managing director Vincent Harrison.

Dublin airport has seen a record 27.4 million passengers in the 11 months to the end of November, a 6% increase over the same period last year.

The growth in passenger traffic is due to a combination of 14 new routes – many of them to North America - plus extra capacity on 39 existing services.