In an effort to remove confusion for the passenger and allow for the additioanl boarding gate capacity that will come on stream in Terminal 2, all boarding gates at Dublin Airport will be renumbered on Wednesday next February 3 2010.

The alpha-numerical system based on the pier location will be abandoned for a more logical numeric sequence following consultation with airlines.

From start of business Wednesday morning for the first wave of departures the following will apply:

• Pier D boarding gates will start from a 100 number range i.e. D60 will become 101
  
• Pier A boarding gates will start from a 200 number range i.e.  A1 will become 201
  
• Pier B boarding gates will start from a 300 number range i.e.  B22 will become 301

In time, when Pier E is fully operational all boarding gates there will start from a 400 number range.

It is not clear if the new terminal will continue starting at 500 or if it will operate it’s own independent system.

An airport spokesperson stated in a comment, “We believe that this change in gate numbering will provide a more intuitive way finding solution with logical pier/gate sequencing for passengers and is being introduced to improve the customer journey through Dublin Airport .”

So far today the air traffice control services in Dublin Airport operated with as normal with no delay to passengers.  At this point it is impossible to predict how and when the ban on overtime may affect services and cause delays or flight cancellations.The unofficial overtime ban being imposed by air traffic controllers is due to the lack of air traffic controllers at Dublin Airport and around the country.  There are approximately 300 air traffic controllers in Ireland with 100 of those based in Dublin. No new air traffic controllers have been recruited since 9/11 and although there are currently approximately 70 in training many of these will not come on stream until later this year or next year. Air traffic controllers go through an intensive 2 year programme before they are qualified.

With  increasing  air traffic in and out of all the Irish airports and particularly Dublin the only way of currently operating a full service is with overtime by people working their days off and their rest days to keep the service going.