Dublin Airport looks set to breach its cap of 32 million passengers this year, its operator daa has warned.
In a statement this morning the company said that despite efforts to dampen airline demand, it now forecasts that passenger numbers in 2024 will be closer to 33 million.
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 said 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.
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.
“Overall, I’m optimistic about the future except for one thing: the fact that growth at Dublin Airport is now being stalled by an outdated passenger cap, a very lengthy planning process and a lack of joined-up thinking on critical infrastructure in Ireland,” said Kenny Jacobs, chief executive of daa.
“This leaves Dublin Airport caught between a rock and a hard place. We want to grow so we can continue to connect Ireland with the world and support FDI, tourism and jobs.”
“But while we wait for planning to be granted, we are doing everything we can to comply with existing planning conditions.”
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 Jacob 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.”
However, 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.
CEO Michael O’Leary has repeatedly called on the Minister for Transport to act by removing the cap.
But Eamon Ryan has reiterated many times that he cannot legally intervene in what is an independent planning process.
