Kenny Jacobs, CEO of Dublin Airport, assured that there will be no significant ticket price rises this Christmas as Aer Lingus and Ryanair retain the same flight slots as last year.
Michael O’Leary CEO of Ryanair, previously claimed fares could rise to as much as €1,00 each way at Christmas
He noted that airfares might decrease slightly, but the final pricing decisions rest with the airlines.
Jacobs highlighted that based on the IAA’s slot decision, a projected drop of one million passengers next year could result in a loss of a thousand aviation jobs, significantly impacting tourism and related spending.
Mr Jacobs said: “There’s not going to be a drama this Christmas, because Aer Lingus and Ryanair have the same slots they had last Christmas. If anything, fares might be slightly down, but let’s see; it’s up to the airlines to decide what they’re going to charge. But based on the IAA slot decision, as it stands, there’s a million passengers coming out of the numbers next year. That would be a thousand aviation jobs lost compared to this year. It would be a big dent on tour spend and a big dent on tourism jobs, and that’s just next year’s actual versus this year’s actual.
We’re just flagging where we’re at. I don’t know what happens next in terms of consequence; that’s a question that people have been asking. I’m very comfortable that we’ve done everything to comply, and even though it goes against our grain, we’ve actively discouraged airlines from expanding at Dublin. We’ve discouraged new airlines from coming here. We’ve taken away incentives and introduced new incentives at Cork. If we didn’t take those actions, instead of going over the limit by 1m, we’d be going over by closer to 2m. So I’m comfortable that we’ve done everything we can.
We’re now in uncharted territory because we’re going over the limit. We can’t control the number of passengers because we don’t run the slot process, and you’ve got DAA saying, “Well, we’ve taken all these actions. What more can we do?” So it’s now in a place that’s well above my pay grade in terms of deciding what happens next and what the consequences will be.
“It’s unprecedented: we are in unchartered legal waters both here in Ireland and, I believe, in Europe. The conditions under Irish planning law require cuts to passenger numbers, while the airlines’ position would be that the level of cuts required are not permitted under EU law. The High Court is going to have to wrestle with this complex matter and I could see it going to Europe for clarity.”
“I’ve heard some simplistic arguments being put forward that try to compare the passenger cap with general planning laws, but they miss the point about the situation that daa and Dublin Airport are faced with. We’ve run out of runway to comply with both Irish planning and EU slot regulations. We’ve done everything we can to dampen demand and have asked the High Court to reviewthe IAA’s winter slot decision to avoid Dublin Airport exceeding the 32 million cap in 2024. daa’s job is to run Dublin Airport on behalf of Ireland, we do not have the power to stop airlines using slots or passengers boarding planes. In fact, we’d be acting illegally if we tried to prevent people from flying or flights taking off – and no one would want that. We’re now at a point of conflict between Irish and European law. Compliance with one means breaking the other. We’re left holding the problem but not the solution: that is no choice. We await the High Court hearing n December 3rdl We’re not seeking favours or dispensations but Ireland needs a pragmatic way through this.”
