Dublin Airports Hits One Millionth Passenger

A young New Yorker who married her Irish husband on T2’s fifth birthday today notched up another big milestone for the new 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.

It’s the first time since T2 opened in 2010 that a million people have passed through CPB.

Philamena, who married Dubliner Kenneth Linton on November 19 last, was presented with a bronze replica of Cú Chulainn and a bottle of champagne by Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison.

He described today’s milestone as a significant achievement in the airport’s 75 year history.

He added: “Dublin Airport’s transatlantic traffic grew by 42% between 2010 and 2014 and 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.

Dublin Airport was Europe’s sixth largest airport for transatlantic connectivity during summer 2015. Only the main European hubs of Heathrow, Schiphol, Paris CDG, Madrid and Frankfurt had more flights to the United States and Canada.

Said Mr Harrison: “Dublin Airport is the only major airport in Europe to offer US preclearance. This facility enables passengers to save time on arrival in the US by completing all the necessary immigration and customs checks prior to departure.

“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,” he added.

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.”