Aer Rianta has threatened legal action against a number of airlines over their alleged failure to address passenger delays.
The airport company said it was taking the step in order to pressurize the airlines into introducing new measures aimed at cutting queues at check-ins. Passengers are being "subjected to unnecessary delays and inconvenience daily", it said, adding that it has issued the airlines over 100 formal notifications in the past week.
Airlines at Dublin airport operate and staff the check-in desks under licence from the Commission for Aviation Regulation.
But, according to Aer Rianta: "Failure to have a sufficient number of check-in desks open and sufficiently in advance of departure times is causing unnecessary and unacceptable congestion in the Terminal Building at Dublin Airport."
In order to prevent further delays a new bye-law had been enacted.
Under its terms, all check-in desks are required to open no later than two hours before scheduled departure time of flights, for flights carrying between one and 50 people, a minimum of one check-in desk has to be operational; for those with between 51 and 200 people, a minimum of two check-in desks have to be operational, and for more than 200, there has to be a minimum of three desks.
Aer Rianta said they had been attempting to resolve the matter for a number of months now to ensure that check-in operated as smoothly as possible for passengers.
A recent survey by the Association of European Airlines (AEA), showed Dublin Airport is now the worst in Europe for flight delays, with more than one in four planes taking off at least 15 minutes late.
The survey showed that 27.6 per cent of Dublin departures were delayed by at least a quarter of an hour between April and June.
Aer Rianta blamed the airlines, while Ryanair blamed Aer Rianta, saying the figures underlined the criticisms it had been making for five years about the airport's "abject facilities".
Aer Lingus attributed many of the delays to a new air traffic control system in London, the destination or flight path of most departures.