Dublin among European airports beating pre-Covid traffic

Dublin is among a handful of leading European airports to have beaten pre-Covid passenger traffic in the first three months of this year, industry figures show. The news comes as Airports Council International Europe warns that EU airport slot regulation is limiting consumer choice.

The council’s latest traffic report shows that Dublin was one of five “group one” airports – those handling 25 million passengers or more a year – to beat pre-pandemic traffic totals in the first three months of the year.

The Irish gateway handled 1.9 per cent more passengers in the first quarter of this year than during the same period in 2019.

The others were Lisbon, Istanbul, Palma de Mallorca and Athens. Heathrow, a popular airport for Irish travellers, was 5.7 per cent below 2019 numbers, though the council noted that the hub re-established itself as Europe’s busiest.

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Among Europe’s five biggest airports, only Istanbul, which was up 5.9 per cent on 2019, and Madrid, where first-quarter traffic equalled that year, had fully recovered from Covid curbs.

But despite the bullish figures, the airports industry group is still firmly in glass half full mode, warning that EU rules governing slot allocation to airlines in 107 airports are out of date and set by legacy airlines for legacy airlines.

Current regulations are in place for 30 years, Javier Marín, Airports Council International Europe president, says in a letter to the transport commissioner Adina Vălean, warning the regulation’s deficiencies “go against the spirit of the single aviation market by limiting competition, connectivity and consumer choice”.

He cites a menu of alleged abuses by more established airlines, including “slot hoarding, overbidding, ‘double-dipping’, slot leasing, secondary trading and abuse of a new entrant rule” by airlines that are part of big legacy airline-led groups.

His real gripe appears to be that airport authorities have little or no say in how capacity is allocated on their sites.

Closer to home, passengers in Dublin will hope that the DAA can deliver this summer on the more mundane challenge of getting them through the airport and on to their flights without the drama and chaos of last year despite those passenger numbers topping pre-Covid levels.