Located just north of Dublin City, Dublin Airport (Aerfort Bhaile Atha Cliath in Irish) was built on the site of a former royal Air Force base at Collinstown. After the Irish Free State was established, Baldonnel Aerodrome was the airport of choice. It was used by Iona National Airways (1931) and Aer Lingus (1935) before moving to the site of Collinstown in 1940. Today, Baldonnel Airfield is home to the Air Force division of the Irish Army.
Construction began on the new Collinstown airport in 1937 and within a couple of years a grass runway, roads, car parking and electrical infrastructure were built. The first flight from Dublin Airport took place in 1940 and construction work began shortly thereafter on a new terminal building which subsequently opened in 1941. Today this building is still in use and still stands out as an excellent piece. architectural. Designed to replicate a ship’s bridge, the building today ranks as one of Ireland’s must-remain buildings.
During the 1950s, Dublin Airport grew and improvements were added to the airport on an ongoing basis, including a longer runway and terminal improvements to cope with the expanded traffic levels. New airlines started flying from Dublin Airport, including Sabena and British European Airways.
In 1958, Aer Lingus was flying from Dublin Airport to the United States via Shannon Airport. The airport continued to evolve to keep up with the increasing traffic levels each year. By 1969, nearly 2 million passengers had flown through Dublin Airport.
In the early 1970s, Dublin Airport had to evolve once again to cope with more modern aircraft and increase passenger numbers when Aer Lingus began operating Boeing 747 aircraft. The expected explosion in the growth of this industry during the 1970s it did not manifest itself due to concerns about rising oil prices and disturbing disorders in Northern Ireland.
The 1980s for Dublin Airport was a period of expansion through increased routes between the UK and Ireland along with the service of regional airports in Ireland by Aer Lingus. Examples of these are Tralee, Sligo, Shannon, Cork, and Galway. By the late 1980s, the number of passengers passing through Dublin Airport had increased to more than 5 million a year.
During the 1990s, Dublin Airport enjoyed rapid growth in passenger levels, as the Celtic tiger meant that people in Ireland had large amounts of expendable income for the first time. Low-cost carriers like Ryan Air joined this expanded business. With passenger levels increasing annually, the future of Dublin Airport appeared to be good.
