TRAVEL: Airport braced for winter passenger surge

DUBLIN Airport has almost 695,000 extra seats across its route network this winter season – a six per cent increase in capacity compared to last year.

Four new services started to coincide with the winter season with Flybe commencing to Doncaster in Yorkshire, Ryanair adding the German city of Hamburg and the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, to its route network. KLM is now also flying to Amsterdam.

Seven services that started during the summer season will operate this winter schedule for the first time. Capacity and frequency will also increase on a number of other routes.

This will be the busiest ever winter season at the airport, according to Dublin Airport Managing Director, Vincent Harrison.

“Dublin Airport’s extensive and growing route network offers a fantastic selection of sun, ski and city breaks for those planning a winter getaway,” he said.

“The new services, coupled with the additional frequency and capacity on many existing routes provide even more, choice and flexibility for both business and leisure customers.”

Passenger numbers at Dublin Airport have increased by 12% so far this year, with more than 24 million passengers using the airport between January and October.

“There is much to look forward to in 2017 as Delta Air Lines will launch a new service to Boston, Transavia will operate flights to Munich and Aer Lingus recently announced that it is to add Miami, Porto and Split to its route network next year,” added Harrison.