Dublin Airport's Terminal 2 turns eleven years old today.
The historical development opened on November 19, 2010 and has "welcomed about 100 million passengers during that period."
Since the terminal began operating, airport traffic has increased by almost 79% from 18.4 million passengers in 2010 to 32.9 million in 2019 (pre-Covid-19).
According to Dublin Airport, the building of the terminal was the largest construction project in the country "at its peak" and it employed up to 2,600 workers onsite.
Before Terminal 2 opened, about 4,000 Irish people participated in "mock trips" so the building could be trialled.
When it first opened 11 years ago, daa’s then Chairman David Dilger described it as "a €600 million investment in Ireland’s future".
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary famously opposed the construction of the terminal and claimed at the time that it would cause the death of the Irish tourism industry.
Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen was welcomed the opening of the Terminal 11 years ago.
The airport has changed exponentially since it first opened at 9:00am on January 19, 1940, when it was then known as "Collinstown Airport".
Terminal 1 only opened in 1972 and cost £10 million. It was designed to cater for six million passengers per year.
The building has been expanded significantly since then, with an extension, a new runway and taxiways.
Dublin Airport recently shared an incredible throwback photo of what the airport looked like in the 1960's.
They said: "Piers A & B (now the 200 & 300 gates) are on the bottom right. The building between the piers is a cargo hangar & offices. The hangar was demolished to make way for T1, which opened in 1972."
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