Dublin Airport is the international airport serving the capital of Ireland. It is the largest airport in Ireland and with over 25 million passengers a year one of the 20th busiest airports in Europe. Dublin Airport is the home base of national airline Aer Lingus and low-cost airline Ryanair.
Dublin Airport was opened in 1936; the first passenger terminal building still exist and is now a architectural monument. Growth at Dublin Airport was especially strong in the 1990s when the Irish economy took off and Ryanair pioneered low-cost flights in Europe. Many new connections were opened to cities in Eastern Europe, where many migrant workers came from, and to holiday destinations in Southern Europe (for affluent Irish). The collapse of the Irish economy during the financial crisis in 2008 was also reflected in passenger numbers which dropped by almost 25% in just a few years. They have recovered now and new records are set every year.
Most flights from Dublin Airport are to Amsterdam and to Bristol but there are many more flights to other destinations as well, most of them by Aer Lingus. Every day there are flights to 8 destinations from Dublin Airport. Here are the most popular destinations:
Dublin Airport has two terminals: Terminal 1 is the older building, opened in 1972 but recently improved and extended. Most Ryanair flights depart from here as well as other short-haul flights (less than 5 hours away) from most airlines except Aer Lingus. Terminal 2 was opened in 2010 to increase capacity of the airport. Most long-haul airlines have moved their flights to this new terminal and Aer Lingus uses Terminal 2 for all its operations.
Dublin Airport is located about 10 km north of Dublin.
The airport is does not have its own train or metro station, although a new project to extend the metro to the airport is planned for but will not be ready before 2026.
Dublin Airport does have a large bus station where 700 buses depart every day to destinations in Dublin, the surrounding area and long-distance coaches to the larger cities in Ireland. To get into central Dublin best to take Airlink Express line 747 with stops at Busaras central bus terminal, Dublin Connolly station, Dublin Hueston station as well as in the city center itself. This bus uses the Airport tunnel bypassing traffic and can get you into the city in minutes. Departures every 15 minutes and a ticket is 6 euro.
Dublin also has local routes that serve the airport providing a cheaper but much slower option (fare 3.30 euro travel time about 40 minutes). Line 16 and 41 both have a stop at O'Connell Street.
See for tickets and schedule: buses: dublinbus.ie .
A taxi into central Dublin should cost about 20 to 30 euro, making a taxi a good alternative if you are with several people.
All prices quoted here were found in July 2017
