In the early hours of Wednesday 29th March Dublin Airspace closed to all inbound, outbound and overflying traffic. The Dublin CTA operates up to FL245 with Shannon operating the airspace above that. Shannon high level was unaffected by the closure. A NOTAM was issued on Tuesday evening indicating that the Dublin CTA would go to “Zero Flow Rate” from 01:00z to 01:30z (02:00-02:30 local) and from 03:00z to 03:30z (04:00-04:30 local).
A number of aircraft were affected by the closure including EI132 (Boston to Dublin) and EI100 (Newark to Dublin) both had to hold at high altitude over the Shannon VOR for the airspace to reopen at 03:30. EI575 from Alicante to Dublin also had to hold just south of the Dublin CTA before being allowed to continue shortly after 01:30. We understand a number of other flights, mainly cargo operators, received ATC slot restrictions.
The airspace closures are reportedly due to Dublin Area Control Centre staff shortages. The 30-minute closures were to facilitate mandatory controller breaks. This would indicate that only a single controller for the Dublin CTA sector was on duty. Similar shortages affected Cork and Shannon Airports last summer. A spokesperson for the IAA confirmed that: “due to short notice sick leave, the IAA’s Dublin air traffic control operations temporarily restricted the flow of air traffic arriving and departing Dublin Airport in order to ensure safety was maintained. The IAA liaised with the airlines and the daa about the flow restrictions.”
