Dublin Airport Facilitating Essential Cargo Flights
Dublin Airport remains open during the COVID-19 crisis and is primarily facilitating essential cargo flights to maintain Ireland’s vital chain supply, receive medical PPE and to export pharma goods. Shannon Airport has, for possibly the first time in living memory, curtailed its hours of operation and is no longer available 24 hours per day. Shannon has always been available as an enroute alternate for traffic crossing the Atlantic but now is only available from 0600 local to 2200 local each day (except for Search & Rescue which remains 24/7). Both Dublin and Cork Airports remain open 24 hours per day.
To highlight the role Dublin Airport is playing in facilitating freight, they have published a list of flights arriving into the airport. For many members of the public, it appears that passengers are still arriving into Dublin, it most cases it is just passenger aircraft being used to ferry freight in the cargo hold only.
Just over one million passengers travelled through Dublin Airport in March, a 57% decline compared to the same month last year. Passenger volumes to and from continental Europe fell by 60%, with more than 491,000 passengers travelling to continental European destinations last month. Figures for April are expected to be in excess of a 95% decline.
| Airline | Frequency | Destination | Freight Carried |
| Aer Lingus | Daily Charter | Beijing, China | Medical PPE |
| Aer Lingus | Daily Scheduled | New York & Chicago, US | Belly freight |
| Fed Ex | Daily | Paris, France | Express cargo medical and pharma |
| Fed Ex Feeder | Mon – Thursday | Paris, France | Medical freight outbound only |
| DHL | Daily | East Midlands, UK | Express cargo medical and pharma |
| UPS | Twice Daily | Cologne, Germany | Express cargo medical and pharma |
| TNT | Daily | Liége, Belgium | Express cargo |
| Bluebird Cargo | Daily | Keflavik, Iceland | Freight |
| Carousel | Daily | Maastrict, Netherlands | Freight |
| Qatar | 4 x weekly | Doha, Qatar | Belly cargo |
| MNG Cargo | One off charter – Thursday 9thApril | Istanbul, Turkey | Medical freight |
| Delta Airlines | One off charter – Friday 10thApril | Atlanta, US | Pharma |
| United Airlines | 3 x times weekly | Washington, US | Belly Freight |
| American Airlines | 1 x weekly Tuesday/ Wednesday 14th/15th April | Dallas, US | Belly Freight |
| Etihad Airlines | 4 charter flights | Abu Dhabi, UAE | Belly Freight |
| Air France | 1 x weekly scheduled Dedicated cargo | Paris, France | Dedicated freighter |
| Hainan Airlines | 3 x charter flights | Beijing & Shenzhen | Medical PPE |
| El Al | One off charter | Tel Aviv | Medical PPE from China |
About the Author
Mark Dwyer Mark is an airline pilot flying the Boeing 737 for a major European airline. In addition he is also a Type Rating Instructor, Type Rating Examiner and Base Training Captain on the B737. Outside of commercial flying Mark enjoys flying light aircraft from the smallest 3 Axis microlights up to heavier singles. He is also an instructor and EASA Examiner on single engines and a UK CAA Examiner. He flies the Chipmunk for the Irish Historic Flight Foundation (IHFF). Mark became the Chairman of the National Microlight Association of Ireland (NMAI) in 2013 and has overseen a massive growth in the organisation. In this role he has worked at local and national levels. In 2015, Mark won ‘Upcoming Aviation Professional Award’ at the Aviation Industry Awards sponsored by the IAA. Mark launched this website back in 2002 while always managing the website, he has also been Editor and Deputy Editor of FlyingInIreland Magazine from 2005 to 2015.
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