Mr Jacobs told the committee that Dublin Airport is turning away airlines due to the current 32m passenger cap and it could affect charter flights for major sporting events.
The airport plans to submit a planning application to lift the cap by 25m to 40m passengers as soon as possible.
In the meantime, capacity is being managed by removing growth incentives for airlines and diverting transit passengers to other airports.
There may be a need to direct general aviation and charter flights to other airports, impacting events like the Six Nations and the 2024 Uefa Europa League final.
Mr Jacobs told the committee that passenger caps do not work for sustainability, hamper job creation, reduce connectivity, and shift flight operations to other hubs.
“We will submit our infrastructure application to Fingal (County Council) on 15 December. The cap is a planning condition linked to surface access and is included in that application which I hope will be granted as quickly as possible”.
We will submit our infrastructure application to Fingal on December 15th um the sooner it gets approved the better. Planning in Ireland, if it went faster I think everybody would say that would be good.
Mr Kenny told the committee:
- Dublin Airport has focused on improving its sustainability efforts.
- Operations at Dublin Airport have been stable, with positive feedback from passengers.
- Significant work has been done to enhance various aspects of the airport, such as Wi-Fi, facilities, food, and transportation options.
- The net promoter score has improved by 25pc compared to the previous year, indicating increased passenger satisfaction.
- Security measures have been strengthened, and new positions have been created in the security organization at the airport. The introduction of advanced scanning machines is expected to further improve security and enhance the passenger experience.
- an incentive will be introduced for airlines that are using quieter and more sustainable aircraft
Proposals to be submitted on December 15 will include:
- a new extended pier one in the north apron in T1 for Ryanair flights
- a new pier five for transatlantic flights. Where passengers go through T2 duty free now turn right to go to the gates they will be able to turn left to a new pier.
- C3 security machines added in T1 and T2
- A new mezzanine floor upstairs in T1 to start off with security but then accommodating fast track and a new lounge.
- a new underpass giving vehicles access to the west side of the airport
- a new apron drainage infrastructure
- more public transport infrastructure on landside, parking and car hire facilities
Unless raised, the cap will impact general aviation, business flights, sports and special events, he warned.
“Things like the Europa League final, things like the Six Nations and charter jets looking to come to Dublin Airport. We may be saying that you need to go to Shannon, you need to go to Cork, you need to go to Belfast.”
“We are actively managing down capacity. We have taken out transit passengers um we are we’ve taken away a growth incentive from the airlines um and we will be looking at how do we manage this in 2024.”
“That puts difficult choices on the table difficult choices like charter flights difficult choices like non-scheduled flights difficult choices like general aviation.”
“The priority will be will be scheduled commercial services with passengers on board and that’s going to create some difficulty. I’m sure we will have several representations from people saying that they’re unhappy with the cap.”
Mr Jacobs noted that the cap at Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport was removed last week following a challenge by the European Commission.
Mr Jacob said “Caps don’t work. The cap at Schiphol airport was removed it was challenged by the European commission that it was anti-competitive.”
“There was a view that look this would be great for sustainability. All that happened was Air France/KLM moved hub traffic to Charles de Gaulle.”
“Caps don’t stop flying they just move the flights someplace else. A cap at Dublin Airport will really just make the airline say will we’ll move to another big air hub airport like Manchester or like Edinburgh and an airport like Edinburgh is already talking to the airline saying look if it’s Dublin’s capped we’ll give you a special incentive to come and do transatlantic stuff at Edinburgh that’s not good for jobs here in Ireland it’s not taking flights out of the sky. Within the EU and Britain it’s just moving them elsewhere.”
“There’s another myth out there that look caps are if you cap Dublin it will move the flights to Shannon and Cork and that’s what happened in in the Netherlands flights when Schiphol was capped flights didn’t go to Rotterdam and Eindhoven.”
“It’s hub traffic. That just went to Charles De Gaulle. Generally caps don’t work for sustainability caps don’t work for moving capital city airline traffic to the regional airports.”
“There’s a better way to do sustainability and there’s a better way to develop the traffic at the regional airports here in It’s a good thing that Schiphol has been removed and in general I think caps caps don’t work it would lead to reduced jobs.”
“If Dublin is capped at 32m for the next number of years about 16,000 jobs that could be created in in Ireland in Leinster in Dublin in Fingal would be lost and they will go elsewhere.”
