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.