The operator of Dublin Airport has said a draft planning decision by An Bord Pleanála (ABP) this week relating to night-time flights to and from the airport is contradictory, and would be a retrograde step for aviation in Ireland if implemented.
On Monday planners issued a draft ruling that found in favour of DAA, the State-owned company that operates the airport, agreeing to replace the cap on night-time aircraft movement at the airport with a noise quota system. However, An Bord Pleanála also said the company must drastically cut the number night-time flights from the north runway, which opened in 2022.
The planning regulator said arriving and departing night flights – between 11pm and 7am – should be restricted to just 13,000 annually, or 36 flights per night, a significant decrease of 20,000 from the more than 36,000 night-time hour flights in 2023.
The decision related to a planning appeal lodged by local residents and environmentalists to a 2022 Fingal County Council decision to replace the hard upper limit on night flights with a more flexible noise abatement and quota system.
The local authority granted permission to DAA to implement those deviations from the original 2007 planning permission granted for the north runway.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for DAA said there are “significant contradictions” in An Bord Pleanála’s decision.
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“The noise quota was proposed to replace the previous blunt movement cap imposed by the 2007 planning condition,” he said. “However, it appears from the draft decision that ABP has proposed a new noise quota but also imposed an overall restriction on the number of night flights that would be permitted which would be significantly lower than the 2007 planning condition. This would reduce the night-time flights by over 60 per cent, and have significant implications for passengers and airlines as well as freight operations.”
The DAA spokesman said the decision, if implemented, would be “a backward step that will significantly impact aviation and passenger numbers at Dublin Airport”.
An Bord Pleanála’s draft decision has now been put back out for submissions and observations for stakeholders until December 23rd, effectively pushing a final decision on the matter out until next year.
Local residents living in the path of night-time flights in Fingal and Meath have hailed the draft decision as a victory for their campaign.
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