DAA, the State-owned operator of Dublin Airport, has said record-breaking demand will see passenger numbers at the aviation hub surpass the 32 million passenger per year cap placed on it by An Bord Pleanála in 2008.
Some 22.7 million people have travelled through in the eight months to the end of August, 5.5 per cent ahead of last year, DAA said in a statement on Wednesday. The airport operator expends that trend to continue into September although a “dampening” of demand is expected from late autumn as the Irish Aviation Authority’s winter slot seat capacity limit kicks in.
DAA said it has made “extensive efforts” to keep passenger traffic within the ABP-set planning parameters but the final figure is likely to be closer to 33 million passengers than the 32 million mandated under planning laws.
The company has applied to Fingal County Council to increase the cap to 40 million as part of a wider infrastructure plan for the aviation hub.
However, DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs said the current cap leaves Dublin Airport “caught between a rock and a hard place” while it awaits a decision on its application. He said: “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.
“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.”
Mr Jacobs told RTÉ Radio 1′s Morning Ireland programme on Wednesday that DAA should have “tackled” the cap issue earlier. “We should have applied for planning sooner. So we need to move quicker. And we will learn from that ourselves. And we will definitely be applying for planning in good time the next time.”
This will be the first time the cap has been breached, he said. “We’re confident we’ve done everything we can to comply, we’ve turned airlines away.
“We have removed all incentives to Dublin Airport. We’ve introduced a new incentive for airlines to move capacity to Cork. And it’s a great shame that we’re in this position. We would love to be able to grow, but we will comply with planning until we’re able to expand Dublin Airport.”
Ryanair warned last month that the cap could lead to “record high air fares” this winter. The airline’s chief Michael O’Leary claimed the State’s restriction on Dublin passenger numbers could see air fares to Dublin this Christmas reach €500 one way as “reduced seat capacity fills”.
However, Mr Jacobs denied the cap breach will have an impact on winter flights. “I don’t expect any difficulty in the coming months in terms of people getting flights for Christmas. I don’t expect fares to be that much higher than last year. It would be the summer of 2025, when a million passengers will come out and fares will go up. There may be one or two or several more routes that will fall off.”
