Ryanair is launching a legal challenge to Dublin Airport’s passenger cap, which the airline says will cost it €50m next summer, meaning the loss of 90 jobs, writes Jada Bas.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has put a seasonal restriction of 25.2million passengers next summer, the busiest period at the airport, to ensure the annual 32million cap is not breached.
Ryanair has claimed this cost it €50m in revenue, led to 90 job cuts, made moving more fuel-efficient planes to Dublin unviable and directly cost the wider economy €125m due to the lower level of activity, it was reported yesterday.
In a fresh escalation of its battle against the IAA’s cap, Ryanair has lodged legal filings.
In the affidavit filed in its action against the IAA, Ryanair’s Eoin Kealy said the summer cap is “unlawful” and will seriously impact Ryanair’s ability to run its existing routes.
Mr Kealy said it could cause the airline to lose current slots and lead to further slot withdrawals in future seasons.
He warned that if the summer restrictions are not lifted, they will have a “substantial financial, operational and reputational impact on Ryanair in summer 2025 and beyond”.
Ryanair estimates it will lose approximately 3,000 slots, or more than 550,000 seats, next summer alone.
Mr Kealy said that if the restriction is not lifted, it will also influence future slot allocation processes at Dublin Airport, which will result in the airline losing the rights to slots it has accrued since 2007.
Ryanair estimates that approximately 1,000 of those slots “will be lost forever”.
The airline said it will need to relocate three aircraft based in Dublin, leading to 90 direct job losses, and will also be unable to justify basing its newer, more fuel-efficient and quieter Boeing 737 8-200 aircraft in Dublin.
It added that the decision and the cap will have “broader effects, which will transcend Ryanair’s economic interests”.
The connectivity from Ireland to other countries is “vital” in the growth of tourism and supporting Irish businesses exporting goods, Mr Kealy said.
“Both support many billions of euros of economic activity, by means of the smooth and efficient travel in and out of Ireland of people, services and goods,” he said.
It will result in significant price increases for customers given the high level of demand for travel to and from Dublin Airport.
The airline added that it has already been forced to cut a number of routes from its draft summer schedule for 2025.
A Ryanair spokesman said: “The decision, and in particular the PATM [passenger air traffic movement] seat cap, if not stayed and quashed, will have very significant financial, operational and reputational impact on Ryanair in summer 2025 and beyond.”
The 32million passenger cap was put in place in 2007 as part of planning permission for Terminal 2 due to road traffic access around the airport.
Aviation firms and the DAA, which operates Dublin Airport, have said it should be lifted as road access is no longer an issue and there is air capacity to grow.
The DAA has also said it expects the cap to be breached this year.
Ryanair called on Transport Minister Eamon Ryan and Tourism Minister Catherine Martin, both senior Green Party TDs, to resign over their “inaction”.
Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary said: “If the Transport Minister had any backbone, he would issue a direction letter to the IAA instructing them under Section 10 of the Aviation Act to approve additional Dublin Airport slot requests from all airlines.
“The fact that neither he nor his colleague and Tourism Minister Catherine Martin are willing to act by simply signing a letter and sending it to the IAA is yet another indictment of the performance of the Green Party in Government.”
Photo: Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary. (Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
