Dublin Airport will exceed 32 million passenger cap, DAA warns

James Cox

Dublin Airport is set to breach its passenger cap this year by one million people, operator DAA has warned.

The airport is permitted a maximum of 32 million passengers a year. However, DAA is forecasting the final figure will be closer to 33 million.

It cited a record-breaking summer at Dublin Airport for the extra passengers.

DAA has applied to Fingal County Council to increase the current terminals passenger cap of 32 million passengers a year to 40 million as part of a broader Infrastructure Application (IA).

DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs said Dublin Airport is "being stalled by an outdated passenger cap".

Mr Jacobs said: “Overall, I’m optimistic about the future except for one thing: the fact that growth at Dublin Airport is now being stalled by an outdated passenger cap, a very lengthy planning process and a lack of joined-up thinking on critical infrastructure in Ireland.

This leaves Dublin Airport caught between a rock and a hard place.

“This leaves Dublin Airport caught between a rock and a hard place. We want to grow so we can continue to connect Ireland with the world and support foreign direct investment, tourism and jobs. But while we wait for planning to be granted, we are doing everything we can to comply with existing planning conditions. While our actions to dampen airline demand have reduced passenger numbers by approximately 650,000, we do not control the slot process. We now forecast that passenger numbers will exceed 32 million and will be closer to 33 million in 2024."

He added: “It is in no one's interests to curtail tourism and investment at a time when so much public and private money is being spent to do the complete opposite. We are a small, open, island economy on the edge of Europe that has always punched above our weight but we need more joined-up thinking in the development of critical infrastructure."

Projected growth

The IA seeks permission for a range of "significant sustainable investments to facilitate the projected growth of passengers through Dublin Airport".

Mr Jacobs has acknowledged that the DAA should have “tackled” the issue of the cap on passenger numbers at the airport sooner.

“We should have tackled the cap sooner. We should have applied for planning sooner. So we need to move quicker. And we will learn from that ourselves. And we will definitely be applying for planning in good time the next time. And we need to get the cap fixed.

"I think ultimately the central issue is about planning, and the speed at which planning moves in Ireland. And it's about the lack of joined up thinking on critical national infrastructure,” he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

The DAA operates both Dublin and Cork airports and has just recorded record passenger numbers for August with numbers trending at 5.5 per cent through September. “So we're forecasting that if everything remains the same, we expect that we will do 33 million passengers as opposed to 32 million passengers, which is the cap.”

This is the first time that the passenger cap will have been breached, he said.

We've turned airlines away.

“So it's the first time, we're confident we've done everything we can to comply, we’ve turned airlines away. We have removed all incentives to Dublin Airport. We've introduced a new incentive for airlines to move capacity to Cork. And it's a great shame that we're in this position. We would love to be able to grow, but we will comply with planning until we're able to expand Dublin Airport.

Mr Jacobs warned the passenger cap could result in losses of "€400 to €500 million in tourism spending" and "cost thousands of tourism jobs".

However, Mr Jacobs said that breaching the cap will not have an impact on winter flights.

“The slots for the winter have been determined. The carriers here, Aer Lingus and Ryanair, have the same slots that they had last year. So I don't expect any difficulty in the coming months in terms of people getting flights for Christmas.

"I don't expect fares to be that much higher than last year. It would be the summer of 2025, when a million passengers will come out and fares will go up. There may be one or two or several more routes that will fall off." - Additional reporting from Vivienne Clarke