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Up to 50,000 people are expected to fly back to Ireland for Christmas, but the traditional airport welcome has become yet another Covid victim.
This comes amid warnings from government and health officials that those abroad should not make the festive pilgrimage to be with family and friends this year.
December is likely to become one of the busiest months for air travel in and out of Ireland, if not the busiest, since the first closure in March.
Tens of thousands of people living in Ireland are also likely to leave for destinations in Poland and Spain and return to their home countries.
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan last night reiterated the government’s stance on travel from abroad.
“For those who are abroad, it will not be an easy time. We are not encouraging people to travel at Christmas. We know this will be very difficult, but we must do what we can to suppress the virus, “he told the Irish independent.
Ryan has previously noted that 10% of typical holiday air traffic is expected this year.
An industry expert said that based on the past nine months, about 100,000 arriving and departing from Dublin Airport is a reasonable projection for the Christmas period.
Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan has continued to urge people not to travel home for Christmas, despite the introduction of a European-wide traffic light system designed to make travel between countries safer.
“People will probably make the decision to go home,” he said Thursday. “We continue to discourage all non-essential travel on and off the island, asking people who do not normally reside here and who are looking to go home to their family for Christmas to postpone it for this year. It’s hard to ask people to do. “
Dr. Holohan said he also wants people not to take short trips out of the country during Christmas.
With the number of people leaving the country, it could mean that more people are going to enjoy Christmas elsewhere than those who come to visit family.
Last year, a record 1.2 million passengers passed through Dublin Airport in the two-week Christmas period, including arrivals and departures.
But the joyous and emotional scenes that have played out over the decades as migrants returned home to their families are, for this year, anything but a ghost of Christmas past.
Passenger traffic at Dublin Airport, which handled nearly 33 million passengers last year, has plummeted by about 90%.
The DAA, which operates Dublin and Cork airports, does not yet have estimates of how many people it expects to use the capital’s airport between December 20 and January 3, a typical period for which it is forecasting figures.
Ryanair said it has nearly 350 flights scheduled to arrive the week before Christmas. He said most are from the UK, Poland and Spain.
Flights from Poland and Spain will almost certainly be more crowded than when they arrived.
Each Ryanair 737-800 aircraft can carry 189 passengers. On average, its flights last month were 65% full.
“Thousands of people have already booked their flight home for Christmas and we look forward to many more as more Christmas travel plans are made in the coming weeks,” said a spokeswoman.
In Cork, Ryanair currently does not operate any services. However, it will fly three routes for Christmas from the city, to London Stansted and Gdansk and Katowice in Poland.
From Dublin, Ryanair is operating services to 11 destinations in Poland over Christmas. Some of those routes are not currently flying and are only being reintroduced in time for the holiday season. Warsaw and Krakow will be the busiest Polish destinations from Dublin.
Aer Lingus also declined to give specific information on the number of flights it is operating during Christmas.
“Due to the current lack of demand for air travel, Aer Lingus is operating very short hours,” the airline said. “While some additional capacity has been added on some key routes such as Dublin-London Heathrow over the Christmas period, the total capacity is 25% from last year.”
Nphet’s own figures show that overseas travel and potential overseas trips account for just 997, or 1.36 percent, of the total 73,045 confirmed Covid cases here as of last Thursday.
Ireland is part of the so-called traffic light system designed to facilitate safe travel between EU countries and regions, as well as the UK, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
Most of the EU, as well as the UK, is classified in red by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. Ireland is classified as orange. Red countries have the highest Covid incidence rates.
Both Ryanair and Aer Lingus said they expect the traffic light system to help boost air travel in the coming months.
Online editors
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