Transforming Dublin Airport

Hidden from the view of most passengers, the DAA has invested more than €85m over the past four years in constructing a series of new aircraft parking stands and taxiways at Dublin Airport.

These extra stands and taxiways have made the operation of the airfield more efficient by, amongst other benefits, enabling aircraft to move more quickly and conveniently from the airport buildings to the runway and vice versa.

Over 80 acres of new concrete apron in total, or about forty times the size of the pitch at Croke Park, has been put in place involving a significant amount of pre-planning, site preparation and precise logistical timing.

Before starting to dig in any area, the airfield team had to divert any existing services. Then new ducts had to be installed to provide essential lighting, power and communications systems.

Typically, workers have had to dig to a depth of more than a metre to allow for new ducting, drainage and the three layers that are required to create a new concrete sufficiently strong to support hundreds of aircraft every day.

Stone is used as the foundation for the new apron and lean mix, a combination of stone and cement, forms the middle layer. This is compacted and a final layer of pavement quality concrete is then laid.

Painting and lighting are installed and all new areas of new apron and taxiway are then checked and re-checked to the highest operational standards, before being brought into service.