One millionth passenger through US pre-clearance at Dublin airport

Newly married Philamena is one in a Dublin Airport million

A young New Yorker who married her Irish husband in Kilkenny on Dublin Airport T2’s fifth birthday, this morning notched up another big milestone for the busy terminal.

Philamena Linton, who lives in Malahide, became the one millionth passenger to use the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility at Dublin Airport this year before boarding a Delta Airlines flight to New York. This is the first time since T2 opened in 2010 that a million people have passed through US CPB in a single year.

Dublin Airport was Europe’s sixth largest airport for transatlantic connectivity this summer. Only the main European hubs of Heathrow, Schiphol, Paris CDG, Madrid and Frankfurt had more flights to the United States and Canada than Dublin this summer.

“Dublin Airport’s transatlantic traffic grew by 42% between 2010 and 2014,” according to Dublin Airport Managing Director, Vincent Harrison. “Strong double digit growth again this year means that last year’s record number of over 2.1 million passengers travelling to destinations in the US is set to be surpassed.

“This is a significant achievement in the airport’s 75 year history. Dublin Airport is the only major airport in Europe to offer US preclearance which enables passengers to save time on arrival in the US by completing all the necessary immigration and customs checks prior to departure.”

US CBP Dublin Port Director, Tish Lagerwey said “This is an exciting milestone for Customs and Border Protection, Dublin Airport and the Irish Government.  This was reached as a result of hard work and the successful partnership between all parties and we are looking forward to continued growth of Dublin Preclearance.”

The number of passengers using US CBP in 2016 is set to rise again with the recent announcement that Aer Lingus will begin services to Los Angeles, Newark and Hartford, Connecticut.

“US CBP at Dublin Airport clears up to 20 flights per day to ten destinations in the United States. The only queue precleared passengers meet on arrival in the US is the taxi queue to their final destination,” Mr Harrison added.

Aer Lingus, American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines offer direct flights from Dublin Airport to New York JFK, Newark, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington DC, Orlando, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Charlotte.

Dublin Airport, which is Ireland’s key international gateway, is celebrating its 75th birthday this year.  The airport has flights to about 170 scheduled and charter destinations in 38 countries on four continents.

December 16 2015