The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has imposed a capacity limit of 14.4m seats at Dublin Airport for the next winter season to comply with the 32m annual passenger cap imposed by planning conditions.
The figure is slightly above winter 2019 so while it constrains growth at the airport it is only by about 2pc versus pre pandemic.
The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) expressed concerns about the risk of exceeding the 32m cap, and efforts are being made to restrict growth within the limit, including reducing growth incentives for airlines and proposing measures like reducing unscheduled flights and redirecting some charter carriers to other airports.
CEO Kenny Jacobs said: “DAA believes there continues to be a significant risk that passenger numbers in 2024 will exceed the 32m cap, as additional measures DAA proposed have not been accepted by the regulator in its final decision. We want to continue to connect Ireland with the world, but we are also trying to comply with a planning condition, even if the condition is less relevant than when decided almost 20 years ago. Pending the approval of our application to increase our passenger numbers to 40m a year, we are making every effort to restrict growth to stay within the cap. The IAA has an important role in supporting this as it controls how many slots are allocated to airlines every year. At this stage, more action is necessary and we will work with the IAA and airlines so any reductions are well managed.”
In their ruling the IAA said the DAA have put a case without saying what their solution is:
- We received approximately 70 responses, which focus almost entirely on the proposed seasonal seat cap. These responses took different views on the proposal:
- Airlines generally consider that the planning conditions are not a relevant constraint, in principle and/or specifically for the W24 coordination parameters, and, without prejudice to that position, that we estimated the associated seat cap parameter on an overly conservative basis.
- Local residents generally consider that the conditions are a relevant constraint, but that we estimated the associated seat cap parameter on an overly generous basis.
- DAA states that the limiting constraint established by the planning conditions must be reflected in the coordination parameters, but without providing a proposal as to how that should be done.
