Dublin Airport To Build Second Runway

April 7, 2016

Dublin Airport has revived a plan shelved during the global financial crisis to build a second runway after the number of passengers using the airport rose 15 percent to a record high last year.

Planning permission for the three km runway was secured in August 2007 at the peak of Ireland's economic boom, before a banking crisis led to international bailout.

Dublin Airport said in a statement the second runway would be completed by 2020 and cost EUR€320 million.

Ireland has been the fastest growing economy in the European Union for the past two years. A weak euro helped push the number of tourists visiting the country to an all-time high last year and 25 million passengers used Dublin Airport.

IAG has said the ability to create a hub at Dublin Airport, where passengers bound for the United States can clear US immigration, was a key factor in its decision to buy Irish airline Aer Lingus last year.

The airport is also the main base of Ryanair, Europe's biggest airline measured by number of passengers.

(Reuters)