Dublin Airport

DUB originated as the Collinstown Aerodrome in 1917, as the townland had been selected as the British Royal Flying Air Corps base. By 1919, construction had been completed when the Irish War of Independence Broke out. The Aerodrome became the Collinstown Camp and was used for the internment of Irish republicans. In 1922 the airfield was transferred to the Irish Free State and fell into disrepair. Aer Lingus was established in 1936 and began operating at Casement Aerodrome at Baldonnel. A decision was taken that a civil airport should be used in place of Baldonnel, and the Collinstown site was chosen. Work began the following year, and a grass airfield surface, internal roads, car parks, electricity, and lighting were all set up. As such, the inaugural flight took place on January 19th, 1940, and the terminal building was opened in early 1941 (and it was awarded the Triennial Gold Medal of the Royal Hibernian Institute of Architects, an impressive feat considering that architect Desmond Fitzgerald designed the terminal as part of his college studies). Whereas the airport was rarely used during WWII, the war's end brought about a significant expansion in operations. Aer Lingus, which had only flown to Liverpool (and occasionally to Manchester) during the war, resumed flights to London. In 1947, the first flights to continental Europe took place via KLM to Amsterdam. The following year, the new concrete runways were completed. As passenger numbers continued to climb during the 1950s, the runways were extended, and the terminal was enhanced. British Airways, Sabena, and BKS also added new services. By the decade's end, it had become apparent that the terminal building was too small to accommodate the increasing number of passengers, and a new North Terminal opened in June 1959. It handled arrivals, whereas the original terminal handled departures. The 60s saw the use of jets at DUB, including Boeing 737s, Boeing 707s, BAC One-Elevens, and Hawker Siddley Tridents. Furthermore, new departure gate piers were added to cope with the larger aircraft. The beginning of the 70s saw the introduction of wide-body aircraft in the form of the Boeing 747. To serve these aircraft, a new terminal (called Terminal 1) opened in June 1972, capable of handling 6 million passengers annually. Whereas the expectation for passenger increases did not immediately materialize, in the 1980s, competition over the Dublin-London routes increased passenger numbers to 5.1 million in 1989. In anticipation of further growth, a new 8,650-foot runway and a new air traffic control tower were completed that year. The 1990s brought about further expansion, as Pier A (the first extension of the old terminal building) was expanded, and the new Pier C was built, including air bridges. Upon completion, work immediately commenced in order to double its capacity. A breakthrough was achieved in 1993 via the United States - Ireland bilateral agreement, whereby airlines were allowed to operate direct transatlantic flights to/from Dublin instead of touching down at Shannon Airport (on the west coast of Ireland), which had been deemed the Shannon Stopover (this situation had persisted since the mid-twentieth century, and the US responded in kind by only allowing Aer Lingus access to four airports in the US). Although Dublin and Shannon were initially to serve an equal amount of intercontinental flights, by 2008, the restriction was removed entirely. It was anticipated that this would cause a significant rise in service to the US, with Aer Lingus identifying 16 airports in the US that it would like to serve. In 2009, Terminal 1 was extended to include new food and retail options. The following year, the 810,000-square-foot Terminal 2 opened, including 25 departure gates capable of handling 15 million annual passengers. The main carrier at the new terminal is Aer Lingus, transatlantic flights bound for the US (as it has a US pre-clearance immigration facility, previously housed in Terminal 1) and Emirates. In both the 1990s and the 2000s, DUB saw an increase in demand stemming from several sources. These included inward tourism and a demand from within for more foreign holidays and metropolitan destinations from the Irish, a demand for more business travel, and a demand from migrant workers from Eastern Europe for destinations in the European Union accession states of 2004. The international economic crisis of 2009 brought about a significant decline in traffic, although the numbers began to rebound in 2011. By 2015, the previous record of 23.46 million passengers (set in 2008) had been eclipsed, and 2019 was the airport's busiest year, with 32.9 million passengers. On June 15th, 2022, a new air traffic control tower opened. It is almost 87 meters high and is the tallest inhabited structure in Ireland. On August 24th, Runway 10L/28R opened at 10,203 feet. At approximately 320 million euros, the new runway would allow direct flights to the Far East. Although there had been a decline in passengers served and routes due to COVID-19, in 2022, DUB served 28.2 million passengers.

The airport is located in Collinstown, 4.3 miles north of Dublin and 1.9 miles south of Swords. 

• DUB has a Catholic Church, the "our Lady Queen of Heaven," which was built in 1962. 
• The FBO at DUB is Universal Aviation. 
• Dublin is one of only two European airports to have US border preclearance services, with the other airport at Shannon being the other. 
• The shopping mall at DUB is called The Loop, which features everything from fashion to beauty brands and alcohol.