Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary described as “unproductive his meeting with junior minister James Lawless regarding the passenger cap at Dublin Airport ” and called for Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to allow additional landing and take-off slots this winter.
Mr Lawless told the Ryanair CEO that while he feld the passenger cap who’ll be lifted, his suggested interim solution was to grow connections to regional airports such as Cork and Shannon to take pressure off Dublin.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has implemented a capacity cap of 14.4 million passengers at Dublin Airport from October to March, which O’Leary claims hinders essential services, including flights for sporting events and holiday trips.
Minister Lawless expressed skepticism about O’Leary’s request, citing legal and planning complexities in finding a quick solution, while suggesting that some passenger growth could be redirected to regional airports.
The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) anticipates exceeding the passenger cap this year, handling an estimated 33 million passengers in 2024, and has applied to increase the cap to 40 million, although approvals could take up to two years.
Michael O’Leary said: “There are real daily challenges being posed by this. All of this is solvable if Eamon Ryan simply issues a directive to the IAA to issue these additional slots this winter and next summer while the planning process plays itself out. We have drafted the letter for him. All he has to do is sign it. Minister Lawless said he will take it away and consider it which means he will do nothing just as Eamon Ryan has done nothing for the past four years.”
James Lawless said “ultimately, the solution to the cap at Dublin Airport is for the planning process to come to a decision and do that quickly,” said. “It’s my preferred outcome that the cap would be lifted. In the interim, we need to mitigate that, and we need to look at ways we can do that.”
