Dalton Philips

The CEO of the DAA, Dalton Philips, was part of a team who were travelling on to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Speaking on his way into Cabinet on Tuesday, Mr Ryan said the DAA told him they ‘cannot guarantee’ that similar travel chaos would be avoided this weekend. On Tuesday, the DAA told Mr Ryan that they ‘cannot guarantee’ that similar travel chaos will be avoided this weekend. Airlines sold flights, so the number of people who would be flying out of Dublin Airport last weekend was utterly predictable. Last week, a brutal brawl involving a group of drunken men inside the airport was allowed to persist for more than 40 minutes before gardaí arrived at the scene, despite the opening of a new airport police station just a fortnight prior. On Tuesday, former transport minister, Shane Ross, issued a blistering attack on the DAA’s ‘absolutely crazy’ Jeddah operations, which had drained Dublin Airport of some senior managers. The DAA refused to clarify Mr Philips’s flight arrangements on Tuesday night but confirmed that he flew out on Saturday night.

Dalton Philips, chief executive of Dublin Airport operator daa, used its Platinum Services private terminal at the weekend, the Oireachtas Committee on ...

Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Asked if he availed of a chauffeur service to the plane, he said "this is a product where you are taken to the aircraft by a different vehicle". Mr Philips said that was "absolutely not the case at all". Mr Philips said he liked to use all the different ways to travel through the airport, including the normal process, Fast Track and "sometimes Platinum Services" but "I don't use it very much to be honest". He added that there was "no such thing as a free travel pass" through Platinum Services - "it's not a product we use willy nilly". He was asked by Senator Lynn Boylan if he used Platinum Services "because you knew there were delays at the airport".

Pic of Day: Dublin Airport Authority CEO Dalton Philips arrives at Leinster House Wednesday afternoon to appear before the Oireachtas Transport Com...

He told the Oireachtas Transport Committee that his journey had taken an hour, and he had used the chauffeur service to get to his flight.

Staffing shortages have been blamed for the chaotic scenes and long queues experienced last weekend. Earlier, a spokesperson for the Daa told the Irish Daily Mail that Mr Philips was "en route to scheduled meetings with our Daa international customers in Saudi on Sunday when he turned back when events at Dublin Airport became apparent". Mr Phillips said that he had flown to Saudi Arabia as Daa runs the airport at Jeddah but had turned around as soon as he heard of problems at Dublin.

DAA chief executive Dalton Philips used Dublin Airport Platinum Services when he flew on business.

The airport chief executive abandoned his trip to Saudi Arabia when he reached his transfer airport in Kuwait on Monday morning. Responding to questions, he said the process took an hour. The service costs €295. Mr Philips said the cost came from his travel budget, which meant he did not pay for it himself.

The Daa chief executive, who is under fire for the airport authority's poor management of Dublin Airport, has previously had his leadership skills called ...

Mr Morrison heavily criticised Mr Philips’ strategy at that time and urged him to “go back to basics”. In addition to his father being a businessman in his own right, Mr Philips’ grandfather, Osborne David Philips, was an American entrepreneur who invented the plastic ziplock. His late father Tim Philips, the former manager-director of Ballyfree Farms, which sold its Ballyfree Browns egg business to Kerrygold, had a plane named ‘Ballyfree Bird’, which he raced in the England to Australia Air Race.

Dalton Philips said he “came straight back” when the queueing chaos ensued the following day.

Access to the Platinum Service starts at €295 and then you have the additional extras like chauffeur services. It’s an opportunity to see and talk to staff,” he said.Source: Philips, who is due to leave the DAA in September, defended his use of Platinum Services, saying that he doesn’t use it frequently and that as CEO he likes to use “all services” within the airport.

Chief Executive of the daa Dalton Philips said he is "deeply embarrassed" by what happened at Dublin Airport last weekend and he apologised "unreservedly" ...

The airport was down 37 security officers that day. This led to a processing deficit of 1,200 passengers an hour. He called on daa to very quickly get more staff and to manage the airport to make sure the events of last Sunday "don't happen again at the weekend" or during the summer period. The committee has also heard that a mixture of staff absences and a delay in the completed training of new recruits contributed towards security delays at Dublin Airport on Sunday. Chief Executive of the daa Dalton Philips said he is "deeply embarrassed" by what happened at Dublin Airport last weekend and he apologised "unreservedly" to passengers and staff affected. The advice to passengers due to fly out of Dublin Airport over the coming period is to arrive at least two-and-a-half hours before the departure of short-haul flights to Europe and the UK, and at least three-and-a-half hours for long-haul flights.

DAA head was grilled by Oireachtas committee over last weekend's Dublin Airport fiasco.

I don’t personally pay for it.” Furthermore, Dublin’s Platinum Services represent “incredible value” compared to the likes of Heathrow, he said. Senator Timmy Dooley, a former FF TD for Clare, boasted that passengers at Shannon Airport are not required to remove liquids from their bags at the security check. Timmy wasn’t impressed and he was speaking as a man of experience. We cracked that anomaly.” This is the way people who earn around €366,000 a year talk. Thankfully, the boss of airport operator DAA has “a high level of confidence” that this will not happen again, all going well and with the best will in the world. Would passengers be forced to queue in the rain? Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Cathal Crowe waxed dreamily about the advantages of Shannon, where people get through security in jig time. Labour TD for Fingal Duncan Smith wanted further detail on the holding areas. Having said sorry in many different ways, Philips sought to explain how the extreme waiting time fiasco came about. With a bit of luck, a basic food and beverage might also be provided. Dalton Philips explained that the airlines make these decisions. Maybe he’ll be able to pull a few strings on the convenience food front for the passengers who will be penned in the outdoor holding areas for an unspecified period of time waiting to be “triaged”.

Passengers that arrive early for flights out of Dublin Airport will be placed in outdoor 'holding areas'.

“Bad weather covers”, toilets and seating will be put in place in the holding areas. “On Sunday, that plan failed.” Mr Philips will insist that one of the three key factors leading to the difficulties Dublin Airport is currently facing is that demand for flights has rebounded, “at a rate that nobody predicted”. Mr Philips will apologise “unreservedly” to passengers affected by the chaos at the airport last weekend – noting that the service, “fell extremely short of our desired standards”. “For departing passengers, access to the appropriate terminals will be controlled and will require the presentation of documentation indicating the time of flight such as a booking confirmation or boarding card,” he will say. He will note that passengers will be advised to arrive at least two and a half hours before short-haul flights and at least three and a half hours for long-haul flights.

DAA chief executive Dalton Philips flew through the airport VIP service and queued for less than an hour last Saturday – as thousands of passengers missed ...

Those who arrive too early may be asked to wait in the holding area. Passengers who arrive too early for their flights will be asked to wait in a holding area instead. “If there had been an issue, I wouldn’t have got on the flight. I am giving them a high level of “I normally would travel through the central search or fast track. TD John McGuiness said the DAA chief, who is due to leave his role in September, should be fired.