Dublin Airport Christmas Passenger Numbers 2021

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. This is down by -42% compared to the same period pre-COVID-19. However Dublin Airport will see an increase of 615,000 passengers when compared to last year, when 235,000 passengers travelled through the country’s principal international gateway.

From Friday, December 17 to Tuesday, January 4, 2021 there is expected to be an average of 45,000 departing and arriving passengers each day, which 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 December 19, followed closely by December 23.

With new travel restrictions recently introduced by the Irish government for arrivals into Ireland, this has made passenger forecasting more difficult than a typical pre-COVID-19 Christmas so final passenger numbers may vary if passengers decided not to travel that have already booked.

Over the Christmas period Dublin Airport would like to remind all passengers to comply fully with COVID-19 guidelines throughout their entire journey.

Face masks are 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.

In line with Irish Government and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) guidelines, access to the terminal buildings is limited to passengers, crew and airport staff.

Anyone planning to greet passengers should arrange to meet them outside the terminal buildings. There are new meeting points just outside Terminal 1 and at the glass walkway between the Terminal 2 car park and arrivals. It is recommended that anyone who is collecting passengers at Dublin Airport plan and arrange pick-ups in advance.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 restrictions Dublin Airport will be unable to host its normal Christmas entertainment music programme for the second year in a row.

Dublin Airport will close on Christmas Day – the only day on which it closes every year – however a number of staff members will remain on duty that day, including the airport’s emergency fire service personnel and Airport Police.

Flight operations will cease on Christmas Eve. The last flight to depart is an Air Moldova flight to Chișinău at 11.10pm and 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.