Dublin Airport welcomes back thousands of holidaymakers as international travel returns

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Thousands of Irish holidaymakers flocked to Dublin Airport yesterday as international travel finally returned.

The EU Digital Covid certificate came into effect at midnight, allowing the free movement of people around the continent for the first time in over a year.

It was a long time coming for many – with a steady stream of around 23,000 arriving and departing between Dublin and Cork Airports.

Flight desks at Ryanair and Aer Lingus were happy to welcome back so many people, with sun seekers heading off to tourist hotspots such as Spain, France, Italy and Portugal.

Siobhan O’Donnell of the Dublin Airport Authority revealed that despite the welcome return of passengers, the number of people moving through the airport is still down 87% on pre-Covid July levels.

She told the Irish Mirror: “We have a very long way to go.

“It’s great having people back, having our customers back. It was very emotional this morning.

“But it will be slow and steady progress, and we hope to see passenger numbers increase in the coming months.”

Inside the airport things are very different, with social distancing rules, perspex screens and hand sanitising stations in place throughout.

Face masks had to be worn at all times, while dining inside the airport was table service only – a key change from pre-Covid times.

Despite extra measures, a lack of social distancing was evident at queues for security – regardless of calls from officials for people to stay two metres apart.

Valerie Kane, 49, who was travelling to Benalmadena in Spain with her daughter Lauren, 21, found that everything was quick and efficient.

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Speaking after touching down at Malaga Airport, the Kildare woman said: “I didn’t get my Digital Covid Cert but my daughter got hers. I’ve gotten both vaccines but I just had to come with my vaccination certificate. There was no hassle, I actually can’t believe how easy it was.”

“I really thought that it would be a big hullabaloo but actually it was quite simple.

“I had my vaccine passport and I thought there’d be a big queue for either one but she (Valerie) was just as fast coming through as I was. So I suppose the cert that I had really didn’t make much of a difference. I think once you have the vaccine it’s fine.”

Dubliner Anthony Kearney, 55, also thought that travelling abroad was very straightforward.

Speaking after arriving in Spain with his partner Monica Waters, he said: “It was obviously different with the masks and all that, but generally I thought it was very good. They were fairly good on this side, fairly transparent going through.

“And even in Dublin we had no holdups or anything. We checked in online so it was grand.

“We had our Digital Covid Certs – but they never asked for them, nowhere. Nobody asked to see them. I wasn’t surprised.”

Also travelling was Simone Black, who was being brought to Barcelona to celebrate her 26th birthday with boyfriend Darren Long, 29, and friends Emma Barry, 29, and Matt McGuirk, 33.

Speaking before her flight at Dublin Airport, the birthday girl told the Irish Mirror: “We’re going to Barcelona for three nights.

“It’s my birthday so I’m not allowed to know what’s planned. I’m really looking forward to just relaxing, having a few drinks and doing some touristy stuff.”

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Elsewhere, Alex Szapkowska, 35, was travelling home to Poland with son Kasper,11, and sister-in-law Marika, 37, to see their family for the first time since the pandemic began.

After travelling from Longford in the early hours of the morning, the trio can’t wait for a long-overdue reunion with their loved ones.

Marika said: “We’re going for two weeks and are really looking forward to seeing our family again.”

While the Government still advised people who are not fully jabbed to avoid international travel more than 1.7million Covid vaccine certificates have now been issued.

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