Dublin
Airport
Dublin
Airport (IATA: DUB, ICAO: EIDW), or Aerfort Bhaile
Átha Cliath in Irish, is operated by the Dublin
Airport Authority. Located in Collinstown, in the
Fingal part of County Dublin, it is by far the busiest
airport in Ireland - over 23.2 million passengers
passed through the airport in 2007.[3] To put this
into context, the population of the Greater Dublin
Area is approximately 1.6 million, that of the Republic
of Ireland is just over 4.3 million, and the island
of Ireland just over 6 million. Passenger traffic
at Dublin Airport is predominantly international;
only 900,000 of its 23.2 million passengers in 2007
were domestic.
The
airport is located approximately 10 kilometres north
of Dublin City in a once rural area near Swords, and
is served by buses and taxis. An underground railway
line called 'Metro North' which will connect the airport
to Swords and Dublin city centre has been approved
and is in development.
The
airport is the headquarters of Ireland's flag carrier
Aer Lingus, and Europe's largest no-frills airline
Ryanair. Ireland's third airline, CityJet, is based
in the nearby town of Swords. Irish domestic and regional
airline, Aer Arann, provides several domestic and
UK routes from Dublin, but while part of its administration
is based at Dublin Airport, its base is Galway Airport
in the west of Ireland.
The
airport has an extensive short and medium haul network,
served by an array of carriers. Domestic services
are offered to most regional Irish airports. There
are approximately 50 daily departures from Dublin
to all five London Airports (Stansted, Luton, Gatwick,
Heathrow and London City). There is also a reasonably
sized Long-haul network. Aer Lingus serves many popular
US destinations, and has been able to add more thanks
to the new open skies deal. US legacy carriers also
serve the airport from major US hubs. Etihad Airways
operates a daily service between the airport and Abu
Dhabi. United
States border preclearance services are available
at the airport for US-bound passengers. Dublin and
Shannon are the only two European airports with this
service. It allows passengers to have their paperwork
dealt with before departure saving time upon arrival
in the US. However, due to congestion there are numerous
flights that do not use this facility. It is planned
to have Customs and Department of Agriculture checks
in the new terminal, meaning flights will not have
to land in international terminals as all checks will
have been completed.
Riding
on the back of the roaring success of the ‘Celtic
Tiger’ economy, Dublin in the new millennium is a
city on the rise and rise. Business in many sectors
is booming and the city overflows with tourists, who
flock to the ‘party capital of Europe’ to sample the
infamous Irish craic (fun). But things have not always
been so rosy for this thousand-year-old city on the
East coast of Ireland. For much of the first half
of the 20th century, strife and unrest tore Dublin
apart as it was involved in a messy and violent divorce
from Britain. Despite ongoing attempts to find a lasting
peace settlement, the religious and political troubles
further north still dominate Irish politics. However,
it is easy to see why tourists today head to Dublin
in such large numbers. This vibrant, fun-loving city
on the River Liffey is full of atmospheric pubs where
the craic is spun with a well-polished finish and
the streets echo with the ghosts of artistic luminaries
such as James Joyce and W B Yeats. An excellent time
to visit is between April and October, when the weather
is at its best, with July and August the busiest months.
Increasingly, however, the city is a popular destination
throughout the year, with many festivals, cultural
and religious events and sporting fixtures. Sightseeing
highlights include the early medieval Christchurch
Cathedral (Dublin’s oldest building), the cobbled
streets of Temple Bar, Phoenix Park (Europe’s largest
urban park), the National Gallery of Ireland and the
treasures of the National Museum of Ireland, containing
Europe’s finest collection of prehistoric gold artifacts.
A plethora of buildings and museums ( including Trinity
College, Ireland’s oldest university, and the Guinness
Storehouse) convey a real sense of living history.
Indeed, it is this living history, present in the
media of music and literature, which has brought Dublin
such international acclaim. In the 20th century, a
string of poets and writers immortalized the city,
none more so than James Joyce whose seminal Ulysses
(1922), which depicts one day in Dublin, is considered
by many literary critics to be the greatest novel
of that century. In the new millennium, Dubliners
are no longer content to rest on the laurels of this
richly cultural history. Alongside the smoky old bars,
the museums and the folk music in the pubs, there
is a new Dublin of funky bars, rebuilt city streets
and confident moneyed 20-somethings – an image that
is being carried forward by popular music acts like
Westlife, the Corrs and, the biggest of them all,
U2. This new face of the Irish capital stems mainly
from the stunning economic success of the country
in recent years, which has managed to combine extensive
funding from the EU with sound financial acumen to
stimulate high levels of growth. Key industries include
electronics, teleservices, retail and tourism. Dublin
boasts the youngest population in Europe (with 41%
under 25 years and 69% under 45 years). Its leafy
parks are full of mobile phone swinging young professionals
enjoying the summer, while during winter, they seek
refuge in Dublin’s numerous bars. There is no denying
Dublin, the ‘capital of Euro-cool’, is currently booming
and its citizens are intent on enjoying it while it
lasts.
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