daa has worked closely with a range of key government, operational and commercial stakeholders to ensure robust contingency measures will minimise any potential Brexit impact.
daa is a global airport and travel retail group which operates in 13 countries. In Ireland, daa manages and operates the country’s key gateways at Dublin and Cork airports.
Dublin Airport welcomed 31.5 million passengers in 2018 and is uniquely exposed to Brexit in a European airport context, given the significant traffic flows which exist between Dublin and the UK. To put this in context, ACI Europe research, published in October 2018, shows that UK passenger traffic accounted for, on average, 12% of total traffic flows across EU 27 airports in 2017. UK traffic accounts for one third of Dublin Airport’s total traffic with more than 10.1 million passengers travelling to and from UK airports last year.
daa has worked closely with Government Departments such as Transport, Tourism and Sport and Agriculture, key State bodies such as Revenue and Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, as well as its customer airlines and a range of other key operational and commercial partners to put in place robust contingency measures to effectively minimise any potential impacts resulting from Brexit.
If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, emergency regulations will come into force at EU level to protect air connectivity for passengers and freight between the EU and the UK.
A no-deal Brexit is not expected to have any impact on the passenger journey at Dublin Airport.
DEPARTING PASSENGERS
There will be no changes or additional requirements for UK-bound passengers departing from Irish airports, as a result of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit. UK-bound passengers will continue to comply with all current security processes and requirements, with no change anticipated from existing processes. The Irish Government has confirmed that duty-free shopping will return on alcohol and tobacco products if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
ARRIVING PASSENGERS
On arrival at airport immigration, UK passport holders arriving at Irish airports are currently processed through the ‘EU/EEA/CH’ channel. If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) has confirmed that UK passport holders will continue to be processed through the ‘EU/EEA/CH’ channel – however, this ‘EU/EEA/CH’ channel will be re-designated as an ‘EU/EEA/CH and UK’ channel.
There will be no additional immigration checks applied to UK passport holders at Irish airports.
CUSTOMS CHECKS
At Customs in the arrivals hall, Revenue has confirmed that all passengers arriving at Irish airports from UK destinations, including all Irish and EU passport-holders, will be required to use the green channel in a ‘no deal’ scenario – rather than the blue channel, as is the current arrangement. The Red channel should be used if a passenger needs to make a customs declaration.
Dublin Airport will have customer services staff on hand to help passengers and to deal with any queries or confusion that may arise during the transition period.
Director of Cork Airport, daa
