A daa statement welcomes the Irish Aviation Authority’s (IAA) draft decision to impose a seat cap for airlines at Dublin Airport for the Summer 2025 season “as a necessary step for compliance with planning regulations” but adds a rider that the regulations need to change to allow the airport to expand.
While recognising the importance of the cap, daa acknowledges the disappointment this decision brings to airlines looking to expand and the uncertainty it creates for aviation employees and the traveling public.
The IAA’s introduced oa seat cap mechanism for the first time in Winter 2024/25, which the daa says was insufficient to meet the 32-million passenger limit, leading daa to seek High Court intervention, with a hearing scheduled for December 3.
CEO Kenny Jacobs said: “daa welcomes the IAA’s draft decision as Dublin Airport cannot comply with the 32-million cap next year without this significant reduction in passenger numbers. The details of the draft decision are being reviewed. But we totally get that losing significant seats from the summer 2025 schedule has real consequences for airlines, people working at the airport and the travelling public, as well as knock-on impacts on tourism, jobs and the wider economy. Absolutely no one wants that, but we are between a rock and a hard place. This issue is no longer just an airport or a planning issue, it is now an Ireland issue. Tourism figures released this week show visitor volumes falling in every region of Ireland, and airlines are allocating aircraft to other countries where they can grow. We welcome efforts by the government to find a solution to the impasse while we wait for planning to lift the passenger cap to 40m a year, which is in line with national aviation policy, the Fingal Development Plan and the Dublin Airport Local Area Plan. Until this happens, we have to support the IAA’s draft decision to cut seats despite the consequences for Ireland.”
