[Article] Airport marquee plans hit by glitch

Bluetonic

This Summer season will be the busiest on record at Dublin Airport with more than 15 million passengers travelling between April and October, a 21% increase over Summer ’05. For the first time ever 2 million passengers are expected to travel through Dublin Airport during both July and August.

To cater for the huge increase in passenger numbers Dublin Airport is to provide a temporary passenger waiting area for contingency purposes. The marquee-type structure, which has been used similarly at other busy international airports, will be brought into operation should unforeseen events occur during the busy peak season. A variety of factors can lead to disruptions in airline schedules across the Summer period, including unavailability of charter aircraft or crews, delays at other airports or with air traffic control, or extreme weather conditions such as experienced in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico last year.

The roof area, Block A of the multi-storey car park has been identified as the most suitable location for this marquee-type structure thereby providing easy access to the terminal building.

Speaking today at a media briefing, Director of Dublin Airport, Robert Hilliard said “It is prudent for Dublin Airport to factor in additional contingency plans to allow for unforeseen events occurring during the busy peak season. Previously, the Airport had sufficient terminal capacity to cater for any disruption that might occur to airline schedules. However, with no extra terminal capacity available this Summer, the huge growth in passenger traffic suggests that any major disruption to airline schedules is likely to lead to additional congestion within the terminal building” added Mr. Hilliard.

Mr. Hilliard also said that Dublin Airport employees and airline operators have made detailed plans for the challenge of accommodating the huge growth in passenger volumes this summer season despite no overall increase in capacity.

An additional 34 new routes/services together with increased aircraft capacity and frequency indicate that end of year passenger figures could rise by an additional 2 million passengers. This represents an acceleration in the strong growth Dublin Airport has experienced in recent years where passenger traffic has grown from 13.8 million in 2000 to 18.4 million in 2005.

A number of Summer initiatives are already underway to help alleviate congestion in the terminal building with the relocation of a number of passenger facilities on the Departures Floor. Once again, Dublin Airport will have 35 customer care employees on duty at all times in the terminal building during the Summer to help passengers on their journey.

http://www.dublinairportauthority.com/media-centre/press-releases/092006.html
************************************************************************

I see this has been complete now as well and will open soon.

Temporary Boarding Area

Passengers travelling from Pier A may notice a temporary pre-fabrication structure being erected on the apron area at Dublin Airport. This building, which will be accessed via gates A18 and A19 when completed, will be used as a temporary boarding area while Pier D is under construction.

The facility, which is due to open in June 2006, will provide an additional 8 boarding gates with approximately 1800 sq metres of floor space. It will remain in location during the construction of Pier D that is due for completion in late 2007.

This move is part of Dublin Airport's development plans to provide additional boarding gates for the growing numbers of airlines and routes operating from the Airport.

http://www.dublinairport.com/at-airport/latest-news/Temporary_boarding_gates.html
************************************************************************

And finally I see work has also begun on the new check in facilities in the basement of the airport. Esculators etc.., will link it directly to the entrance of Area A Security check.

The authority is also building a new check-in area in the basement of the airport which will have 26 check-in desks.

The authority is in negotiations with Ryanair about moving to the new area which will be operational in December.

DublinWriter

I was over and back to the UK today, travelling via the grim horror known as Dublin airport.

It was when I was belerily chasing a mushroom around a plate with a plastic fork at 7.30am in the 'food' hall I realised that there's more to life than this and started mentally re-arranging any trips I had planned to the UK 'till at least the end of the summer silly-season.

secret_squirrel

I flew out and back through the new temporary pier yesterday.

Apart from the seemly endless walk it was grand.

And now the bad bit :mad:

On coming back from the A Gates there are only 3 Immigration booths.

Thats 3 booths for somewhere between 20 and 30 boarding gates.

Coming back around 9.30pm Sunday night, I reckon there must have been atleast 1000 people crammed in between the duty free in Pier A and the escalators down to the baggage hall. It was just a sea of people.

It took me 1 hour to get through passport control.

What a fucking joke!!! Im still fuming now.

If this is the extent of their planning passengers are in for a shít summer.

Jeanious

ya mean ya didnt see the 5 or 6 brand spankin new booths just sittin there all nice and wrapped in plastic?! ("just sittin there" bein the key point)

DublinWriter

coyle wrote:

ya mean ya didnt see the 5 or 6 brand spankin new booths just sittin there all nice and wrapped in plastic?! ("just sittin there" bein the key point)

Obviously the guards don't have the man power or official sanction to have more GNIB lads workin' in d'airport.

Jeanious

well in fairness to them, they spent about a month widening that corridor, and the booths arent installed yet, but i dont know where theyre actually gonna put them. And now that i think of it, it might lead to the situation where 8or9 queues are convergin on that one stairway down to the baggage hall (as opposed to three now....potential for a major bottleneck maybe?)

DublinWriter

Feck it. I've had it up to here with all this cheap-fares nonscense...

...AIR TRAVEL FOR THE RICH ONLY!

But seriously, my breakfast experience in Dublin Airport this morning (€11 for the Full-Irish in Nude with Toast, complete with plastic cultlery and two DAA lads in the next table in full "fuckin' dat bleedin' dis" conversational mode) put me in mind of the old stories of CJH bringing his cronies out to the Silver Service restaurant in the old terminal building in the 1960's where it was the only place in Ireland to serve French cuisine.

Jeanious

And finally I see work has also begun on the new check in facilities in the basement of the airport. Esculators etc.., will link it directly to the entrance of Area A Security check.

The authority is also building a new check-in area in the basement of the airport which will have 26 check-in desks.

The authority is in negotiations with Ryanair about moving to the new area which will be operational in December.

didnt see that the first time i read it, but i can tell ya the extent of their "building" so far is that theyve rounded up all the absolute shoite (cardboard, plastic, and tonnes of other general crud) into the middle of that place. Also upto about a month ago it was used as a storeroom for most of the companies, now the whole basement area is just littered with pallets and boxes etc cos they cleared them out too.

And to be honest i can see disaster a mile away, cos where theyre puttin that check-in is just a big cavernous room directly above the train station (bang goes an easy Metro link), and its just generally nasty and in a state (as is the rest of the basement really)

Brian21156

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0606/dublinairport.html

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.

Nice clever chaps.

Bluetonic

I presume the below has something to do with the above

Dublin Airport Authority (DAA Property Department), Dublin Airport, for a new inclined moving walkway and car park control facility in the atrium of the multi-storey car park at Dublin Airport, Collinstown, Rock and Corballis townlands all in the Barony of Coolock, os ref dn 3064-01/02/06/07. The site of the proposed work is within the multi storey car park, adjacent to the main Dublin Airport terminal building. The development consists of the removal of an existing escalator and infill floor of the remaining void, the demolition of existing glass block wall to create a new entrance and the construction of a new glazed canopy with security roller shutter and glazed side screen to the rear (North East) of the multi-storey car park, the erection of an inclined moving walkway from ground floor (Arrivals) level to Departures level, the construction of a new car park control facility office, the relocation of existing sliding doors and screens on the bridge between the multi-storey car park and terminal building and all associated site development works at Atrium Of Multi-storey Car Park, Dublin Airport, Co. Dublin

Chris_533976

Yeesh. Im sure everyone would make an exception. **** the planning laws.

secret_squirrel

coyle wrote:

ya mean ya didnt see the 5 or 6 brand spankin new booths just sittin there all nice and wrapped in plastic?! ("just sittin there" bein the key point)

They must have moved them for the weekend - no sign of them. (although my rage may have blinded me to their presence)

Im not sure where they are going to get the width from to put them in anyway.

Presumably they will be double booths? And presumably thats why some of the offices are gone from down that corridor?

Jeanious

secret_squirrel wrote:

Im not sure where they are going to get the width from to put them in anyway.

indeed, cant think of anywhere either, unless theyre plannin to widen the place where the current ones are?

Yeah for a while they had signs along that corridor sayin somethin like "we apologise...blah blah inconveniece caused, we're doin this in order to widen the corridor and put more immigration booths into action" somethin to that effect anyway. But the corridor's only wider for the last like 10yards.

I suppose to give them some credit, they did widen (by a lot) the actual exit from the baggage hall to arrivals.

Tom Dunne

How appropriate - a Big Top for all the clowns at the DAA.

BendiBus

Chris_533976 wrote:

Yeesh. Im sure everyone would make an exception.

Local anti-airport-expansion groups are expected to object. Purely to make life difficult.

**** the planning laws.

That's one of the reasons the country is in such a mess for infrastructure. So there should be no 'exceptions' anymore. Let's do things the right way from now on.

BendiBus

DAA wrote:

...more than 15 million passengers travelling between April and October, a 21% increase over Summer ’05

Wow! 7-month summers on the northside. No need for people to fly out on their holidays. Airport problems solved!

secret_squirrel

tom dunne wrote:

How appropriate - a Big Top for all the clowns at the DAA.

In more clown news it looks like they forgot to get planning permission, so the circus is going to be late to town, and miss most of the summer rush.

Victor

Threads merged.

Slice

I've never had a problem with Dublin Airport to be honest and don't find it particularly off-putting to fly through - I also find it quite astonishing what all the fuss is about. Okay so I didn't fly through the airport last year during the capacity issues at check-in but I just don't get the hoopla. Okay so there's on-going work and refurbishment but lots has already been improved including the food hall and area beyond check-in.

Having recently flown through Manchester Airport I can say that that airport is a real proper nightmare to use compared to Dublin Airport.

lostexpectation

Brian21156 wrote:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0606/dublinairport.html



Nice clever chaps.

can they not do review the planning immediatly while still staying within the plannign laws?

secret_squirrel

lostexpectation wrote:

can they not do review the planning immediatly while still staying within the plannign laws?

Why should fingal coco give the chancers at DAA a break?

They were already working on the 2nd runway a year before getting planning permission for it.

They have had construction equipment working between the traveller encampment and the last hangar for atleast a year if not 18 months.

Any body else puts in for planning permission within a sniff of the airport they are the first ones to object - regardless of whether that objection is valid or not.

ZENER

Are you sure that it's for the second runway ? There are a other big projects being started before that gets under way, Pier D for example and the extension onto the OLD CTB building plus the walkway from the multistorey to the Old CTB and the widening of the link corridor - all big projects.

I notice several of the complaints here are levelled at DAA when in fact they should be aimed at the private companies who provide catering services at the airport.

As for the passport check booths from Pier A I too cringe when I see them but Pier A has become much busier than was intended and the planners were kind of caught on the hop with that one. There are plans in the works to open out that whole area after the booths. When you come through the booths there's a sign overhead pointing straight into a wall !!

With the removal of BOI and the Aer Lingus Ticket Desk from the Departures floor the congestion seen last year on Departures will be greatly eased if not eliminated altogether this year. Hughes & Hughes have a contract in place for the location of the Departures floor book store so were not willing to move but have now moved the whole store air-side thus reducing some of the traffic from the boarding gates/security check area.

ZEN

secret_squirrel

ZENER wrote:

Are you sure that it's for the second runway ?

Not entirely sure, but its at between the last fls hangar and the Traveller camp on the back road into the airport.

Not sure what else it could be.

Victor

It could be for something, like say, the drainage or lighting for the runway, but may not need PP.

secret_squirrel

I dont think so - this is significant building work, looks like foundations for something at the very least.

Last time I looked they had a concrete batching plant and all out there, several 2 storey portacabins as offices etc etc.

A fair bit of heavy plant too.

Bluetonic

secret_squirrel wrote:

I dont think so - this is significant building work, looks like foundations for something at the very least.

Last time I looked they had a concrete batching plant and all out there, several 2 storey portacabins as offices etc etc.

A fair bit of heavy plant too.

This was for the improvements to the taxiways airside.

ZENER

Also work on the new permenent Pier D, which will run parallel to the existing Temporary Forward Lounge - TFL, is underway. This is a large project too. There are also plans to dismantle Corballis House brick by brick should the need arise (which it most likely will) as it is under a protection order.

ZEN

Victor

ZENER wrote:

Also work on the new permenent Pier D, which will run parallel to the existing Temporary Forward Lounge - TFL, is underway. This is a large project too. There are also plans to dismantle Corballis House brick by brick should the need arise (which it most likely will) as it is under a protection order.

You could do what the Romanians used to do. Jack up the building and move it to one side.

secret_squirrel

Bluetonic wrote:

This was for the improvements to the taxiways airside.

Cheers mystery solved.

secret_squirrel

ZENER wrote:

plans to dismantle Corballis House brick by brick

NOOOOO - where will they hang the Xmas lights :eek:

Bluetonic

They have now totally shelved plans to erect a marquee on the top of Block A before the end of the summer. They are going to apply for planning to have it in place for the new year.

secret_squirrel

And another question - why did they decide to dig up the Car Hire/Coach car park in high summer.

And what happened to the Bog Oak?

ZENER

They've relocated the car-hire kiosks - about time IMO. The reason is to build the raised promenade to the new Pier D which will go across that area. The coach park is largely untouched, the bog oaks are regrettably disposed of, something we are all annoyed about.

ZEN

Bluetonic

ZENER wrote:

They've relocated the car-hire kiosks - about time IMO. The reason is to build the raised promenade to the new Pier D which will go across that area.
ZEN

Pier D is beside the OCTB and the North Terminal, there were/are no car-hire kiosks in that area.

The car-hire kiosks are where the new terminal (terminal extension) will be built.

ZENER

I meant that the new walkway to Pier D will go across the existing coach park, the carhire kiosks are all beside the carpark exit building for the past 2 months. Corballis house and the old location of the kiosks is ready to be developed, the house is now empty.

ZEN

Bluetonic

ZENER wrote:

I meant that the new walkway to Pier D will go across the existing coach park

Pier D and where it is constructed is totally airside (west of the North Terminal). There is no coach park airside. There is also not construction for Pier D landside.

Pier D to the left in this diagram http://www.dublinairport.com/about-us/airport-development/Terminal_2.html


Can you clarify what your saying as it doesn't make any sense.

ZENER

The future plans propose to provide a raised walkway from the Departures road through the carpark atrium across to the old terminal/pier D.

ZEN

DublinWriter

ZENER wrote:

The future plans propose to provide a raised walkway from the Departures road through the carpark atrium across to the old terminal/pier D.

Lads, the simple answer to this is to develop Baldonnel. Dublin badly needs an airport south of the Liffey. Even routing 25% of the traffic to Baldonel would greatly help the situation in Dublin Airport.

But why don't they? Guess where the Governmental Jet departs and arrives from? Why should Bertie et al mix it with the great unwashed when they have a private airport all to themselves?

secret_squirrel

:rolleyes:

Lads u are still confusing me.

Are you saying the walkway is E-W replacing the one that already runs from the toll booths at the car part towards the N Terminal.

Or is the walkway going to run more N-S from Say Corballis house, across to the coach park?