Cheap Dublin Airport car hire deals

The week beginning May 29th is a bank holiday weekend in Ireland. Many people will be looking to take advantage of this by getting out of the city and making the most of the four day weekend.

The bank holiday weekend of course happens a week earlier in the UK so if you are travelling form the UK this week then time is of the essence in order to find a suitable Dublin  Airport car hire deal.

Our cost comparison service displays a huge variety of rental cars from the top car hire firms in Ireland. We have small budget cars to premium vehicles to family people carriers. If you think you are going to need to hire a car then start searching now as Dublin Airport is quite a hectic place at the best of times but on a bank holiday weekend…..well.

Be sure to drive carefully and take your time on the roads as bank holidays are particularly busy times. Familiarise yourself with Irish road signs and rules before arriving.

Speculation has mounted recently concerning Tilke Engineering (track design company) and an impending visit to Dublin. It is thought that discussions have been held regarding Dublin hosting an A1GP stage.

The Irish team was victorious at the recent A1GP Motorsport World Cup. A member of the team Adam Carroll spoke of Tilke sending two members of staff to Dublin to examine the possibilities. Carroll believes that if the event happens it would provide a huge boost for the image of the sport in the country. He added that Dublin would be a great venue and ideally suited.

It would be a dream come true for Carroll to take part and possibly win a race in Dublin City. He pointed out that it was the only thing which might possibly eclipse his win in Monaco.

Congratulations to Adam and all the Irish team.

Last Friday 14th May Ryanair praised the decision by the Spanish Government to abolish airport taxes for any airline that manages to up or maintain the passenger numbers it achieved in the latter half of 2008 for the same period the following year in Spains biggest airports.

The news was warmly welcomed by Ryanair seeing it as gesture towards increasing tourism in Spain in these difficult financial times. Other recent developments to help tourism around Europe include

• Regional Airport tax removed in Greece
• Air customer tax removed in Belgium
• Removal of twelve euro air customer tax in Holland

The Irish low cost airline has now called on its own government to follow suit and abolish its ten euro passenger duty tax which came into existence on the 1st of April. The tax has been described as “tourism suicide” by Ryanair officials.

Michael O’Leary called the tax “stupid” and asked the Irish government to look at what other European countries had done to help tourism in their countries. O’Leary also called on the DAA to reduce charges by thirty percent at Dublin, Shannon and Cork Airports.

Baggage fees have long been a major gripe among airline passengers however the news that passengers will now have to pay one euro for two plastic security bags at Dublin Airport to store toiletries has shocked even the most skeptical of customers.

In the past the bags as you would expect have always been free. Recent changes made in relation to this at airports around the world have prompted Dublin Airport to follow suit. The bags were introduced as a security procedure after the 9/11 attacks.

Mr Michael Kilcoyne speaking on behalf of the Consumer Association of Ireland described the decision as yet another example of Ireland’s rip off culture. He went on to label the decision as “ridiculous”.

The charge has also been introduced at Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland. The DAA defended the decision saying that they could have introduced the charge much earlier. Passengers can avoid paying the charge by bringing their own plastic bags.

Irish Airline Aer Lingus has reported a ten point nine percent increase in passenger numbers for April 2009 compared to numbers for April the previous year.

The total number of passengers last month was nine hundred and forty five thousand.  The main increase occurred on short haul routes with a thirteen percent increase recorded (up 103,000) Long haul routes increased by five point eight percent (46,000).

The Load factor for Aer Lingus also increased by four percent (Short Haul – up 3.2%. Long Haul – up 4.3%)

Check out the current sale Aer Lingus are offering. You can get 20% off return fares for the following routes –
Alicante, Athens, Barcelona, Bilbao, Bologna, Bordeaux, Bourgas/Bulgaria, Dubrovnik, Faro, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Lisbon, Lyon, Malaga, Marseille, Naples, Nice, Palma Majorca, Rennes, Rome, Santiago de Compostella, Catania/Sicily, Tenerife, Toulouse and Venice.
 
You must book by Midnight Friday 15 May and Travel between 1 June to 31 August.

Aer Lingus plans to cut the number of flights on five routes this Autumn at Belfast International Airport but pledged to run the flights again as normal within 4 months of that date.

The five affected destinations are Barcelona, Milan, Paris, Rome and Faro.  There will be less aircraft available for the Dublin-Belfast route meaning less frequent flights. Enda Corneille speaking on behalf of Aer Lingus said that the move was not unusual as there would be less demand in these months. He also spoke of the need for Aer Lingus to be careful with expenditure so they could continue to offer low fares.

The downtime for certain aircrafts will be used to perform necessary maintenance. One plane will be removed from Belfast International Airport during this time with a number set to be removed from Dublin Airport. Everything is expected to be back to normal by March next year.

Aer Lingus plan to offer Winter getaway flights to Tenerife and Lanzarote. These routes will use up extra airtime. Aer Lingus denied they were cutting flights due to competition.