THE boss of Ryanair has declared Christmas is “cancelled” and warned that the Leinster rugby team and their fans will have to fly through Belfast for away games due to the ongoing passenger cap at Dublin Airport.
Michael O’Leary urged the Transport Minister to remove the restriction by issuing a letter of direction to the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to add additional flight slots at the capital’s airport.
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The Ryanair CEO said Eamon Ryan should make the move before the general election is called, adding that he would not be taking any political risks as he is not seeking re-election.
Speaking at a press conference in Dublin on Thursday, Mr O’Leary said the Green minister should instruct the aviation regulator to issue new slots while the issue goes through planning.
Ireland’s busiest airport is allowed to fly through a maximum of 32 million passengers a year based on planning conditions from 15 years ago.
Mr O’Leary said: “The Transport Minister has the legal power under the Aviation Act to issue a direction to the IAA telling them to approve additional aircraft slots.
“We have two runways. They are operating at 50 per cent of capacity, and all it requires is him [Mr Ryan] to sign the letter. It doesn’t interfere with the planning process. The planning process will continue.
“We’ve even drafted the letter. All he has to do is sign the letter and send it to the IAA.
“The IAA want him to sign the letter. They want to receive a letter. Neither the IAA nor the DAA [the State airports company] want to restrict traffic. They want us to continue to grow.”
Mr O’Leary warned there are “real effects” to the passenger cap.
“Leinster rugby team are now having their away matches, we do the charter for Leinster Rugby. They’re now having to bus their way up to Belfast airport to catch their away matches in Cardiff, in Bath and in France.
“They’ve cancelled Christmas because the children’s Lapland flights to see Santa Claus have been moved to Belfast.
“At Dublin, we will have 220,000 less seats this Christmas. Our annual extras have not got slots. That means we have 20 per cent less seats and fares already are up 30 per cent over 2023, and we will hit my prediction of €500 one-way fares in the last two weeks in December.”
Mr Ryan has repeatedly told the airline boss that it is not legally possible to intervene in the planning process.
However, Mr O’Leary said that advice from senior counsel shows the Transport Minister is empowered to do so under section 10 of the Aviation Act.
Urging the Mr Ryan to sign the letter, he added: “You’re not running for election. It’s not like you’re taking any great political risks. You haven’t done anything in four years as a Transport Minister.
‘JUST SIGN THE LETTER’
“Before you close the door and turn out the lights, sign the letter and send it off to the IAA and at least you could look back on your period, that’d be the only achievement you could refer to in your four years, or five years as a Transport Minister for Ireland.
“We’re calling on Eamon Ryan, please, after five years of inaction, just sign the letter before you leave and retire back to Ranelagh.
“Do it now before you get to the general election, where the Greens will get wiped out anyway, so you better do something useful for your five years in office.”
The airline boss also repeated calls to limit the number of alcoholic drinks that passengers can have at the airport, saying there has been a “significant rise” in disruptive passengers on board.
‘THROTTLE BACK’
He said that a spike in Air Traffic Control delays mean people are spending longer in airport bars, “sculling pints”.
The airline chief added: “If you have two drinks, you should show your boarding pass, [and have them] stamped.
“We just need to kind of throttle back a little bit on the amount of drinking that’s going on. I’m very fond of a drink but I don’t understand why the bars at airports are open 7am.
“All the other airlines would confirm we’ve had a big spike upwards in diversions for passenger offloads for disruptive passengers.”
In response to the letter, a spokeswoman for Mr Ryan said: “Saying something over and over does not change the outcome.
“Neither Minister Ryan, nor any Government minister, can intervene in an independent planning process.
“To intervene would be to contravene the independence of our planning process and legislation, which would have significant knock-on effects on Ireland’s regulatory reputation.”
