Draft decision on night time flights a ‘backward step’

Dublin Airport operator, daa, has said a draft decision from An Bord Pleanála (ABP) regarding the night time use of the second main runway would represent a “backward step”.

Daa said that as it stands the decision would significantly impact aviation and passenger numbers at Dublin Airport.

“The noise quota was proposed to replace the previous blunt movement cap imposed by the 2007 planning condition,” the daa said in a statement.

“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 nighttime flights by over 60% and have significant implications for passengers and airlines, as well as freight operations.”
Its comments follow the issuing of the draft decision by An Bord Pleanála in recent days in relation to an application by daa to have the runway’s hours of use at night extended.

In the decision the planning board proposed extending its normal operating hours by two hours, from 7am to 6am in the morning and from 11pm to midnight at night.

The proposal would also allow for the removal of the cap on the number of flights permitted between 11pm and 7am and its replacement with an annual night-time noise quota between 11.30pm and 6am.

The original planning condition restricted the average number of night-time aircraft movements at Dublin Airport to 65 per night between 11pm and 7am.

However, An Bord Pleanála also proposes a limit of 13,000 aircraft movements between 11pm and 6:59am, with 3,900 of those in the winter and 9,100 in the summer.

It also said that the north runway should only be used for departures between 6am and 8am.

An Bord Pleanála has now invited submissions or observations on the draft plan for it to consider prior to it proceeding to make a final decision on the case.

Those must be made by December 27th which means a final decision is unlikely before next year.

The board was considering the appeal after local residents lodged it two years ago.

The appeal followed a decision in June of 2022 by the newly-established Aircraft Noise Competent Authority that existing conditions on the use of the runway at night-time could be eased.