Dublin Airport Chooses QueuePro™

Dublin Airport is an international airport serving Dublin, Ireland, operated by DAA (formerly Dublin Airport Authority). In 2019, 32.9 million passengers passed through the airport, making it the busiest of Ireland’s airports and the 12th busiest airport in Europe. Over 40 airlines operate services from Dublin. It is the main hub for Ireland's flag carrier Aer Lingus and is a primary operating base for Europe's largest low-cost carrier Ryanair. Dublin International operates two terminals and because of increasing traffic an additional runway was opened in August 2022.

Queue Management with Retractable Belt Stanchions

As in all airports, at Dublin International queuing is a feature of almost every stage of the passenger journey. Queues are required to manage waiting passengers in an orderly way ensuring an equitable first come, first served process. Queues at check-in, baggage drop, security, border control and customs all require passenger guidance and control. Dublin makes extensive use of retractable belt stanchions to create customer queues. This form of barrier has become ubiquitous in the world’s airports due to the flexibility they offer in creating queuing corrals. The stanchion’s portability allows them to be moved for floor cleaning or to adjust the queue layout depending on traffic. This also means that unlike railing systems expensive floors do not have to be drilled to set up the corral. The four-way connectivity of belt stanchions allows layouts of any size or shape to be designed. Finally, the retracting belt feature means that when the stanchion is not in use it takes up a minimum amount of storage space.

Stanchion Replacement

When Dublin International went to market to replace their aging retractable stanchions, they turned to Queue Solutions’ Dublin based distribution partner Q-fitz for assistance. Working with Q-fitz, airport management determined that they needed a very durable product able to withstand the wear and tear of the airport’s very high foot traffic. The key goal was to achieve a long service life from the equipment with minimal maintenance. The second priority was minimizing purchase cost to keep within the airport’s budget constraints.

The Choice of QueuePro™

In response to the airport’s needs, Q-fitz recommended Queue Solutions’ QueuePro™ stanchion. The selection of QueuePro™ was based on the materials and construction of this model. Featuring the option of either steel or stainless-steel posts matched with a cast iron base, QueuePro offers the robust design needed for airport environments. A key advantage with QueuePro™ is that it has an 11’ (3.35m) belt which is more than 45% longer than the industry standard 7.5’ (2.3m) belt. Longer belts mean fewer stanchions are needed to create a given length of barrier. QueuePro’s extra belt length significantly reduced the number of stanchions required lowering the overall purchase cost. While these factors were key to the airport’s decision to specify QueuePro™ they were also impressed by QueuePro’s unique full circumference floor protector. Alone among stanchion brands QueuePro’s features a heavy rubber ring stretched around the fill circumference of the base. This means floors are protected from the stanchion being dragged or rolled at any angle.

Enhanced Branding

The DAA marketing team also chose to enhance the airports branding by having Queue Solutions custom print the QueuePro™ belts with the airport’s logo. This gives the queue system a sophisticated look in line with the terminals overall aesthetic.

Queue Solutions’ retractable belt stanchions can be found in domestic and international airports from Ireland to Australia. Our experience in serving airlines and airport operators around the world has enabled us to design queue management products ideally suited to the needs of the modern air transport sector. Our range of tough but elegant retractable belt stanchions are used by millions of passengers every year and we continue develop our product range to meet the changing needs of the aviation industry.