Chaplain Father Des Doyle, has performed the annual blessing of the aircraft at Dublin Airport, and the emergency team escorted him during this ceremony.
Dublin Airport is closed on Christmas Day, making it the only day of the year when it is not operational.
A skeleton team remains on duty at the airport to handle emergencies and other critical situations that may arise.
The annual blessing ceremony dates back to 1947. Initially, it involved only Aer Lingus aircraft, each of which is named after saints and was held in summer. From 1967, the ceremony has been held every Christmas Day, given that it is the only day the airport is closed.
Nowadays, the blessing is ecumenical and covers all aircraft based at the airport, including Ryanair, and is carried out by Father Desmond “Des” Doyle, the chaplain in residence at the airport’s church – Our Lady Queen of Heaven.
While planes were previously blessed individually, current airport traffic makes this unfeasible, so a general blessing is performed instead from the airfield.
Fr Doyle is from Rush, 12 miles northeast of the airport, and was working in Newport Beach, California, when he was recalled to serve as the airport chaplain in 2008.
