AN ESTIMATED 850,000 people are due to travel through Dublin Airport this Christmas compared to almost 1.5 million people who passed through the airport during the comparable period in 2019.
That represents a decrease of 42% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
However Dublin Airport will see an increase of 615,000 passengers compared to last year, when just 235,000 passengers travelled through the country’s principal airport.
From Friday, 17 December to Tuesday, 4 January 2022 there is expected to be an average of 45,000 departing and arriving passengers each day.
This compares to an average of 12,000 passengers per day over the Christmas season last year, and 77,000 per day during the same period in 2019.
The busiest day during the Christmas season is expected to be 19 December, followed closely by 23 December.
However, the airport has said new travel restrictions introduced by the government for arrivals into Ireland have made forecasting difficult, "so final passenger numbers may vary if passengers decided not to travel that have already booked."
It also reminded passengers and members of the public to comply with Covid-19 measures that will be in place.
Access to the terminal buildings is limited to passengers, crew and airport staff, and anybody planning to greet passengers should arrange to meet them outside of terminal buildings.
Face masks are also mandatory at Dublin Airport and must be worn when in the terminal buildings. In addition, social distancing protocols should be observed and there are more than 1,000 hand sanitisers located throughout the Dublin Airport campus.
The airport will also be unable to host its normal Christmas entertainment music programme for the second year in a row.
The last flight to depart Dublin Airport before it closes on Christmas Eve is an Air Moldova flight to Chișinău at 11.10pm, while the final arrival is an Aer Lingus flight from Tenerife, which is due to arrive at 11.35pm.
The airport will reopen on St. Stephen’s Day when a TAP Air Portugal flight from Lisbon arrives at 03.05am.
See More: Air Travel, Dublin Airport, Home For Christmas
