The Minister for Transport has said Dublin Airport must abide by planning conditions and raising the passenger cap is a matter for the planning authorities and Fingal County Council.
Dublin Airport looks set to breach its cap of 32 million passengers this year, its operator daa has warned.
In a statement, the company said that despite efforts to dampen airline demand, it now forecasts that passenger numbers in 2024 will be closer to 33 million.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, Minister Eamon Ryan said the daa could have moved faster to address the issue of the passenger cap being breached.
However, he added, the State must hold up its hands and admit that the planning and legal system is not serving the public good.
Mr Ryan said his department is in constant contact with daa and “everyone knew we were on the very edge of the existing cap”.
But, he said, it is not true to say that the Minister for Transport can “just click their fingers and resolve the issue”, adding that has to be done through the planning system.
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Daa said 3.46 million passengers went through Dublin Airport’s terminals in August, making it the busiest month ever in its 84-year history.
That brought the total number of passengers using the facility so far this year to 22.7 million, 5.5% ahead of last year, a trend which it said is set to continue into September.
Daa said a dampening of demand in late autumn is expected due to a decision by the aviation regulator to cap winter slot allocations, limiting passengers for the season to 14.4 million.
It added that some airlines have already decided themselves to reduce their operations because of uncertainty around the passenger cap.
Daa has also made extensive efforts to reduce passenger numbers to comply with the limit, it claimed.
These include the removal of an incentive scheme for airlines and the launch of a scheme to encourage carriers to grow capacity at Cork instead of Dublin.
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It said its actions have reduced passenger numbers by approximately 650,000.
However, it is now forecasting for the first time that it will breach the cap this year, by as much as 1 million passengers.
Fingal County Council said a planning enforcement investigation is already taking place into complaints that the passenger cap at Dublin Airport was breached last year.
In a statement, the local authority said that the daa’s confirmation that it expects the cap to be breached “will feed into the ongoing planning enforcement process”.
FCC said it is awaiting further information from daa in relation to the airport’s infrastructure application submitted in December.
If approved, it would allow passenger capacity to increase to 40 million a year.
“The Planning Authority requires further information to progress assessment of this application and this was requested in February 2024,” it said.
“It is understood that daa is working on this request and was recently granted an extension of time to respond,” it added.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, daa CEO Kenny Jacobs warned there will be a loss of aviation jobs next year due to the inability to increase the number of flights into Dublin Airport.
In relation to what the Government can do on the issue, he said this issue goes beyond transport.
“I think what needs to happen is faster planning. I also think what needs to happen is more joined up infrastructure thinking that gives Ireland the infrastructure with that we need,” he stated.
He said he welcomed the recent news by Taoiseach Simon Harris that there may be a Department of Infrastructure set up.
“I think this would be a good thing, but ultimately this is about planning, not just transportation, and it’s about the speed at which Ireland moves to get critical infrastructure built,” he said.
The cap was put in place in 2007 as part of the planning permission granted for the second terminal at the airport and restricts passenger numbers to 32 million a year.
If it is breached, it is unclear what if any consequences the airport could face as a result from Fingal County Council, which imposed the cap.
Daa has submitted an infrastructure application for planning permission which if approved would enable it to grow passenger numbers to 40 million a year.
But that is expected to take some time to get a decision on, so the airport operator is also preparing a separate application that would seek to lift the cap only, without the additional infrastructure.
“It is in no one’s interests to curtail tourism and investment at a time when so much public and private money is being spent to do the complete opposite,” Mr Jacobs said.
“We are a small, open, island economy on the edge of Europe that has always punched above our weight but we need more joined-up thinking in the development of critical infrastructure.
“It’s time to all come together to realise an ambitious vision of Ireland that sets us up for the future. This includes support for growth at Dublin Airport, so we can keep delivering for Ireland, and growth at Ireland’s great regional airports at Cork, Shannon, Knock, Kerry and Donegal.”
Mr Jacobs said that airlines are annoyed about the cap as they want to grow at Dublin.
He also said he does not expect fares to be that much higher than last year, adding that it will be the summer of 2025 when a million passengers will come out and fares will go up.
“There may be one or two or several more routes that will fall off, so there’ll be a drop in connectivity,” he said.
“We are flagging no issue in the short term, but a significant impact next year,” he added.
He also acknowledged that daa should have tackled the cap sooner.
Environmentalists and some local residents are opposed to any further growth of Dublin Airport because of the impact it would have on emissions and also on noise.
Ryanair and other airlines are pushing hard for the cap to be lifted, saying it is impacting on their ability to grow their businesses at the airport.
Recently Ryanair warned the cap could lead to there being a million less passenger seats in and out of Dublin Airport next summer and that it could push up flight prices between Dublin and London considerably over Christmas.
Ryanair CEO Micheal O’Leary claimed that people will pay a significantly higher price this Christmas to come home from London due to the airport’s passenger cap.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, Mr O’Leary said Ryanair had “already applied for slots, for extra flights this Christmas, and they have been rejected by the Irish Aviation Authority”.
He said that “none of the airlines at Dublin are allowed to add extra seats this Christmas”.
“So, Dublin will be about 250,000 seats less in Christmas 2024 than it was in Christmas 2023 and it is therefore inevitable that prices will be significantly higher,” he said.
The Ryanair chief said fares are coming down across Europe by 5% due to the increased supply of seats, but prices to and from Dublin are rising.
“So, fares have come down across Europe this year by about 5% this summer, fares to and from Dublin have gone up because there’s no additional capacity,” he said.
Mr O’Leary said it is time for the Taoiseach and Tánaiste to “take action” to raise the passenger cap.
The airline CEO said he has “given up” on Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan for what he alleged was his lack of action on the issue.
Mr O’Leary said: “Why have we a second runway with capacity for 60 million passengers if some 2007 planning restriction says you can’t carry more than 32 million passengers?”
“It is time for the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste to take action on this.”
But Eamon Ryan has reiterated many times that he cannot legally intervene in what is an independent planning process.
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Business calls for passenger cap to be lifted
Business group Ibec said it is vital that Dublin Airport – as Ireland’s global gateway – is supported with the necessary infrastructural upgrades.
“The arbitrary 32 million passenger cap must be lifted to reflect our continued population growth and international connectivity demands. It prevents the intensification of use of the existing terminals, combined with planned infrastructure upgrades,” Ibec chief executive Danny McCoy said.
“Restricting capacity is not just a tourism industry, it’s a business issue. Our economic competitiveness is underpinned by a dynamic and resilient airport ecosystem. Sustainable growth of the airport will deliver benefits to the region and the wider economy,” he added.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Drivetime, Mr McCoy said that environmental concerns can be addressed through other means rather than imposing a cap on airport capacity.
He described the cap as a “folly”, citing Ireland’s status as an island nation and the importance of infrastructure for business and tourism.
Dermot Crowley, the chief executive of Dalata Hotel Group, said the passenger cap at Dublin Airport is an important issue for its business, and he remains hopeful that it will be resolved in the short term.
“The ability of Dublin Airport to continue to increase passenger numbers is critical to support further growth in the Irish economy, particularly in the hospitality and tourism sectors which are a key source of employment for the island of Ireland,” he added.
Dalata owns the Clayton Hotel and Maldron Hotel brands and is the biggest hotel group in Ireland.
