A travel agency labelled Dublin Airport as one of the best performing airports in Europe. No, it really did.

Leading online travel agency Hopper ranked Dublin Airport in the top 5 best performing airports in Europe.

According to the poll, 15 per cent of flights from Dublin were delayed, and only 1.6 per cent of flights were cancelled. Hopper sourced this data based on reports between July 1 and July 10.

The best performing European airport is Bergamo Airport in Italy, with cancellation rates of one per cent and delay rates of three per cent. Other familiar airports in the top 10 include Alicante, Malaga and Gran Canaria. Great day to be an Irish tourist on your way to the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, Hopper ranked Brussels the worst airport in Europe, with delay rates of 72 per cent and cancellation rates of 2.5 per cent. Frankfurt had the highest cancellation rates at 7.8 per cent. It’s nice to know that, at least for us in Dublin, the grass is not greener on the other side.

Airport problems

Airlines and airports across Europe have struggled to meet the surging demand for travel since the lifting of major Covid-19 restrictions. Staff shortages have also led to longer queues and cancelled flights more frequently across Europe.

According to reports from Dublin Airport and customers online, at least 22 flights have been cancelled in the last week by different airlines in Dublin Airport. In June, 27 per cent of cancelled flights were cancelled within six hours of takeoff.

Meanwhile, Brussels Airport have cancelled over 700 flights this summer already. This is largely due to Brussels’ plan to reduce workloads and avoid union strikes, though, so fair play.

Dublin Airport chaos

Of course, there’s a little bit more to the performance of an airport than delayed or cancelled flights. Staff shortages have led to a host of problems that lead to a very chaotic experience at Dublin Airport.

Lost luggage is piling up in Dublin airport thanks to miscommunication and a lack of coordination between airlines and Dublin Airport. Passengers are reporting more than 500 lost bags a day. Previously, 50 bags might have gone missing on an average day.

In recent weeks, that number has even shot up to 1,000 missing bags a day. One man from Monaghan even bought a new plane ticket just to search for his lost luggage at the airport.

To make the scene even more apocalyptic, the Irish army is currently on stand-by in the airport to deal with any potential problems that emerge. I mean, I guess we’re giving them something to do.

So it’s great to see Dublin on a ranking for good reasons every once in a while, but let’s not hope that the DAA get too comfortable.

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