- Dublin Airport confirms €5.6bn capital investment between 2027 and 2031.
- DAA proposes average base price cap of €12.86 per passenger.
- Passenger demand to reach 44m by 2031.
- Base price cap rises from €11.14 in 2027 to €14.99 in 2031.
- Plans include electricity water IT infrastructure and transport hub.
- Dublin Airport growth constrains to 1pc or 2pc per annum.
- The DAA plans for 50m passengers by late 2030s.
- About 40m passengers expected by 2030.
- Planning application covers major infrastructure with Fingal County Council.
Dublin Airport will see constrained passenger growth rates of between 1pc and 2pc until new infrastructure provides facilities for further growth, DAA acting chief executive Nick Cole has told the Irish Aviation Authority.
The Airport confirmed plans to spend €5.6bn on capital investment projects between 2027 and 2031. The DAA hopes the Authority will allow passenger charges to rise to help fund the infrastructure development. Dublin Airport proposes an average base price cap of €12.86 per passenger during that five year period.
The submission to the IAA states that recent infrastructure failures across Europe demonstrate the risks facing airport infrastructure. Charges for the 2027 to 2031 period must reach the level required to ensure safe resilient and high quality operations that passengers airlines and the Irish economy depend upon. Mr Cole advised the IAA that connectivity is not a luxury for Ireland it is a lifeline.
Vincent Harrison the chief commercial and development officer at the DAA told the Oireachtas transport committee that removal of the passenger cap needs support from additional infrastructure.
Dublin Airport expects passenger demand to reach 44m by 2031 and the company continues to plan for about 50m passengers by the late 2030s or early 2040s. The proposed base price cap starts at €11.14 in 2027 and rises to €14.99 in 2031 while the current average base real price cap stands at €7.59 for the 2023 to 2026 period.
The DAA has lodged a planning application with Fingal County Council for major projects. It says passenger throughput will remain constrained to 1pc or 2pc per annum growth until infrastructure and pier development advance with about 40m passengers expected by 2030.
Last year the airport handled a record 36.4m passengers, breaching a passenger cap that limits total numbers at Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 to 32m a year. Declan Fitzpatrick the chief executive of the Irish Aviation Authority stressed that the cap applies only to passenger throughput in respect of those two terminals. The Government hopes the bill to remove the cap will be enacted as early as this summer.
Nick Cole shared ” the stakes are high, connectivity is not a luxury for Ireland it is a lifeline Dublin Airport must remain a resilient modern sustainable and well funded gateway befitting a country with global ambition.”
“if you were to look at let us say 50m passengers we are certainly looking in the region of the late 2030s to the early 2040s what we do not want to do is just in time planning we want to focus on the future and make sure that we have got a really long term plan to what we are looking to do.”
Vincent Harrison shared “we will undoubtedly due to the slow passage of the planning application see constrained demand for a number of years we would see that being in the region of very low single digits we expect the passenger throughput until we see infrastructure and pier development advanced to be constrained to 1pc or 2pc per annum growth.”
