A New Look, But Same Success for Dublin Airport

Irish Airport operator DAA has introduced a revised branding for Dublin Airport to better differentiate it from its parent organisation that also manages Cork Airport in the Republic of Ireland. The new identity, revealed last week, modernises the airport’s identity and introduces a revised corporate logo at a time the facility continues its rapid expansion and introduce further innovative technology to boost the passenger experience.

“Dublin Airport means many things to many people; we are a gateway to Ireland and to the world; for business and for tourism, for holidays and connecting with loved ones near and far, or for many of us, a place where we work,” John Hurley, head of B2B marketing, Dublin Airport, explained to Routesonline on the sidelines to this year’s Routes Europe forum in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.

“Dublin Airport is the first and last impression of Ireland and our new identity looks to capture the many facets of our airport: connections across the world; sense of place and character; Dublin and modern Ireland and dynamism and progression,” he added.

Dublin Airport is continuing to dramatically grow its transfer traffic, and is solidifying its position as a significant transatlantic transfer hub. Transfer traffic at Dublin increased by 37 per cent in 2014 with a record 750,000 passengers using Dublin Airport as a hub. This is the second year of strong growth in transfer traffic and the medium term goal is to grow this sector to two million passengers per annum.

The airport’s geographic position between Europe and North America, its strong continental European and UK route network and the ability to clear all US Customs and Immigration checks prior to departure on US-bound flights have combined to create a unique selling point for Dublin as a transfer hub.

It is winning transfer traffic from Britain and continental Europe, which is then feeding onto its expanding transatlantic network. To make the transfer experience even easier, Dublin Airport offers passengers free unlimited wifi and a free DUB HUB mobile service powered by Google, to guide passengers seamlessly to their boarding gate.

Overall transatlantic passenger numbers increased by 14 per cent in 2014 to a record 2.1 million last year. The strong increase in passenger numbers was boosted by new direct Aer Lingus services to San Francisco and Toronto, a new year-round service to Toronto with Air Canada rouge and a new WestJet service to St John’s Newfoundland.

This year the airport will welcome six new airlines and 23 new destinations and has already seen an extra 670,000 passengers fly in and out of the airport during the first quarter of the year, up 17 per cent on 2014. As it celebrates its 75th anniversary it has boosted transatlantic capacity to North America to 328 flights per week by ten airlines serving eleven destinations in the US and four in Canada.

To support its growth, Dublin Airport has recently adopted a new Transfer Incentive Scheme to provide more sustainable discounts to airlines during the winter season through a reduction in passenger charges which can reach levels as much as €16.69 per passenger based on airlines flying the same transfer passenger for three years on a rolling basis.

Richard Maslen

Richard Maslen has travelled across the globe to report on developments in the aviation sector as airlines and airports have continued to evolve and…