THE Christmas rush to return home pushed the passenger figures through Dublin Airport to over nine million this year.
Ms Fiona McGuiness from Roscommon became the nine millionth passenger when she arrived from London at 8.30 a.m. yesterday, travelling home with her husband, Sean, and three year old son, Darren. Aer Rianta executives gave her £800 worth of presents and two return London Dublin plane tickers.
An Aer Rianta spokesman attributed the hugely successful year for Irish airports with passenger numbers up "16, 17 per cent" to the economic boom.
Just 10 years ago a third fewer passengers passed through Dublin Airport. Cork and Shannon also had a record year Cork's millionth passenger arrived two weeks ago, while 1,700,000 passengers passed through Shannon. A spokeswoman at Knock Airport was unable to supply figures.
Over 330,000 people will be arriving at Dublin Airport over the holiday period to January 5th, with 58,000 arriving at Cork and 76,000 at Shannon, while figures at Knock are "up by 5,000". The figures are the best ever for Christmas.
Ryanair has laid on over 300 extra flights for the holiday period, bringing their total to 1,652. The airline will be carrying 200,000 people, an increase of 25 per cent on last year. Their busiest route is London/Stansted to Dublin, which has experienced a fifth more in traffic this year. Figures on the Stansted/Cork route have risen by 36 per cent and Stansted/ Knock by 16 per cent.
Irish Ferries will be carrying 40,000 passengers over the period, and about 9,000 velicles, while Stena Line will carry 70,000 passengers and 15,000 cars. On the Dun Laoghaire/Holyhead route the Stena Explorer (HSS) will operate up to five round trips daily. On the Rosslare/Fishguard route the Stena Felicity will operate two round trips a day, while the Stena Lynx fast ferry will also operate on round trips daily.
On land, both Bus Eireann and Iarnrod Eireann expect to carry "about 200,000" passengers each over the holiday. In Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford, Bus Eireann will be operating a special Guinness Nite shuttle service. (Further information is available from local depots/offices).
Extra buses will operate on all major routes today, while city services in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford will end earlier than usual this evening.
There will be no Bus Eireann services tomorrow, while on St Stephen's Day city services in Cork will operate as on Sundays, with no city services in Limerick, Galway, and Waterford. A special Expressway will operate nationally on most routes, on St Stephen's Day. By Friday almost all Bus Eireann services will be back to normal, at least until New Year's Eve.
Iarnrod Eireann will be operating over 40 special trains during the holiday, with a special reduced fare available on most routes. There will be no train services nationally tomorrow or on St Stephen's Day.
Dublin DART services will run according to a Sunday timetable today, ending earlier at 8.55 p.m. from Howth to Bray, and 8.45 p.m. from Bray to Howth. (That will be 9.17 p.m. from Connolly to Bray, and 9.18 pm. from Pearse to Howth). There will be no DART service tomorrow or on St Stephen's Day. On Friday and Saturday the service will operate to a Saturday schedule, with the 6.30 a.m. Howth/Bray service also operating. Services to Dundalk, Arklow, Kildare and Longford will also operate to a Saturday schedule, with some slight alterations.
Dublin Bus will operate as normal today, with last buses leaving terminuses before 9 p.m. There will be no Nitelink service tonight. There will be no buses running tomorrow in the city, and no Nitelink. Sunday services will operate on St Stephen's Day, with no DART feeder services. By Friday buses should be running according to the normal weekday schedules.
