"Come back next year and everything will be working fine," challenged the director of Aer Rianta's public relations office. As the building of Dublin Airport's extension was in full swing this time last year, Oliver McCann was talking something of a losing battle.
Several airlines were describing "extremely difficult circumstances" and claiming that management of the airport was "bordering on lunacy".
This bank holiday weekend, the airport is handling 276,000 passengers on about 2,000 flights. Its busiest hour of the year was yesterday, between 11 a.m. and noon, when 5,800 passengers travelled through.
By the end of the year there will have been about 15 million passengers through the airport - compared with 5,000 in its first year, 1940. Only 1,969,000 passengers passed through the terminal when it opened in 1972.
Last year Mr McCann was less than happy with The Irish Times which quoted those airlines' fury. While Aer Lingus said its staff was "pulling out all the stops to deliver product", a senior source at Servisair said workers were performing "heroically" in "a very frustrating situation".
A member of Ryanair's management described Aer Rianta's running of the airport as "inefficient and bordering on lunacy".
Frustration centred most acutely on the construction of a new extension, now complete, which Mr McCann had proudly said would double floor capacity, increase the number of check-in desks from 81 to 146, double the number of baggage collection carousels from five to 10 and enable management to provide more facilities.
The problem was that although the extension had been built, none of the airlines had moved in. So with passenger numbers reaching 14 million last year - compared with 5,099,253 in 1990 - the airport was becoming a less and less attractive place.
The promise of the extension lay in the added space and the new Common User Terminal Equipment check-in system, which Aer Rianta said could eliminate queues. It would mean that desks were not dedicated to individual airlines and that instead of permanent overhead signs, monitors could display whatever information was needed by whichever airline was using a desk at the time.
If Aer Lingus needed two desks for one flight and 10 desks at a later stage, it could get them immediately.
The airlines had not moved into the new space because of delays in staff training, said Mr McCann last year. The airlines countered the delays were Aer Rianta's fault - that training was not an issue until they could get at the new equipment.
In truth many desks had not been fitted this time last year; airlines could have trained staff before moving in, and this year it seems some have decided not to use the new system or the new terminal space at all.
All desks are now operating, easing congestion throughout the building. However, some long queues at check-in desks remain. As about 80 people form for a flight to Milan on Wednesday, Mr McCann points to the five empty desks beside the one in use. "The facilities are there," he says, "it's up to the airlines to use them. They are obviously making a cost decision on how many staff they want to put on."
Mr Declan Conroy, spokesman for Aer Lingus, says all its scheduled services are still checked in at the original terminal space to "maintain consistency of service". The company is "happy to see improvements and changes" and customers are "definitely getting a better service" at the airport this year.
The company is concerned however that the fast-track boarding system, which it sought from Aer Rianta for its premier class passengers, had not been working for almost two weeks. The system allows eligible passengers to bypass queues to departure lounges. Mr McCann says the service has been suspended to redeploy personnel during the peak holiday season to "get the ordinary punter through on time".
Servisair, which provides ground-handling operations, last year found conditions in the terminal so bad that it started checking passengers in outside in an area next to the car-park.
"The new terminal," says a spokeswoman, "has led to improvements with respect to passenger comfort." However, "serious issues with regard to bag gage processing which are causing substantial difficulties for the airlines and groundhandling agents" remain.
Aer Rianta says it meets ground-handling staff "every week" and "there are mechanisms for resolving any issue".
In the arrivals hall, the extension is open with the original space undergoing refurbishment. Ugly hoardings around the old arrivals gate will come down in September to reveal a second arrivals gate, more toilet facilities and an airport police office. All 10 baggage-collection carousels are now operating, though Mr McCann regrets that most airlines prefer to use the original five as much as they can.
"It suits their operations. I hate seeing this," he says, gesturing towards passengers walking past the five out-of-use new carousels to collect luggage at one of the older ones.
Mr McCann hopes there won't be the same delays in the next phase of expansion as held up the current extension plans (see accompanying panel) and regrets the problems of last year. "But, I hope, people will see by the end of this phase in January, we were right all along."