Airlines are to be told they need to diversify their Irish routes away from Dublin Airport.
Minister of State for Transport James Lawless will meet the major carriers next week to discuss Dublin Airport’s 32 million annual passenger cap which was a condition of planning permission for the second terminal in 2007.
Airport operator DAA has warned it is likely to breach that cap by at least a million passengers this year. It is looking to extend the limit to 40 million.
Mr Lawless said airlines need to move away from their dependency on Dublin Airport. He has scheduled meetings next week with Ryanair, Aer Lingus, DAA and the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).
“As a country we don’t actually have any cap on our national aviation capacity,” he explained. Shannon Airport can take another five million passengers and Cork Airport is looking to grow by eight million passengers.
“The airlines can begin diverting flights if they want to introduce new routes,” he said. “Any new routes that airlines want to introduce can be catered for at Shannon, Cork or other regional airports.”
Mr Lawless said 40 per cent of the population live in the Shannon Airport hinterland yet it only has 4 per cent of airport connections. “Why is that? That is something we need to figure out,” he said.
“I’m having a series of consultations to find out how we protect and support connectivity on the island of Ireland, because that is a Government objective, but respects concerns around noise and congestion issues around Dublin Airport.
“Once you get into the midlands and the southwest, nobody from places like Limerick, Tipperary or Clare nobody should have to go in their car or bus and travel up to Dublin to get a connection when there is a perfectly good airport on their doorstep.”
Mr Lawless said there are two current planning applications in process, including one by DAA to extend the cap to 40 million passengers which is with Fingal County Council.
The other is an application by DAA to An Bord Pleanála to allow for more night flights from Dublin Airport which has been before the board since 2022.
“I would be hoping the board would prioritise that at this stage. That decision is overdue. It would be helpful to the wider situation if that decision was to issue soon.”
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