Air fares rose and airlines cut back flights when regulators applied the Dublin Airport passenger limit, State airport company DAA is to tell TDs and senators on Tuesday.
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport is scrutinising a proposed law to scrap the 32 million a-year cap on the number of passengers that the country’s biggest airport is allowed handle.
The cap “causes price increases and reduced choice for Irish consumers”, DAA deputy chief executive Nick Cole says in his submission to the committee. “This is not theory, it is fact,” he says.
Fares on European routes at Dublin rose 13 per cent, while airlines cut capacity by 3 per cent, in winter 2024/25 as regulators took the cap into account when allocating take-off and landing slots at the airport, Cole says.
READ MORE
This was the highest increase among Europe’s top 80 airports, he says.
[ US airlines demand immediate removal of Dublin Airport passenger capOpens in new window ]
In contrast, when the High Court later suspended the cap flights increased and fares stopped rising, Cole says.
The passenger limit tells businesses there is no guarantee of good connections to the rest of the world, while it allows rival airports such as those in Manchester and Glasgow to lure flights away from Dublin, he also says.
An Bord Pleanála imposed the limit in 2007 to ease fears of traffic jams on nearby roads as a condition of allowing Dublin Airport build its second terminal.
DAA, the State company responsible for Cork and Dublin airports, has asked its local authority, Fingal County Council, to increase the cap to 40 million.
The difficult choices that could dramatically increase housing supply in Dublin
Minster for Transport Darragh O’Brien recently published the Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026, allowing him revoke or amend the limit if it is passed.
Representatives from the DAA and the regulator, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), are due before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport on Tuesday for a “pre-legislative scrutiny” hearing where interested parties contribute to the debate on proposed laws.
Aer Lingus and Ryanair representatives are to appear before the committee on Wednesday.
Unless the Bill is passed quickly, an EU court decision could force the IAA to take the limit into account when setting the conditions for allocating slots to airlines, DAA says.
Cole urges politicians to resolve the issue soon. “We strongly welcome the Government’s proposed legislation,” he says.
[ Politicians must axe Dublin Airport passenger cap in weeks, Aer Lingus warnsOpens in new window ]
As Dublin Airport handled 36.4 million passengers last year, reinstating the cap would slash traffic.
“In our view removing the cap is as critical to aviation as corporation tax certainty is to foreign direct investment,” the DAA executive says.
He rejects the notion that removing the cap will result in a growth free for all.
Dublin Airport faces existing constraints, including its infrastructure, which Cole says cannot handle more passengers without being expanded.
That is subject to planning permission from Fingal County Council, the submission notes.
“We will also continue to be subject to regulatory conditions at an EU and Irish level including environmental regulations,” Cole says.
“And the Bill proposed by Minister O’Brien will include environmental safeguards.”
DAA has pledged to spend €50 million on community schemes and initiatives to improve the welfare of locals, its deputy chief executive says.
The company has fully insulated more than 200 homes, spending between €80,000 and €100,000 on each. Last year, it announced a scheme for another 1,000 properties, offering €30,000 for bedroom insulation.
Half of all flights to and from Dublin are on quieter next-generation aircraft and DAA continues to offer airlines incentives to use these jets, Cole says.
Research by polling firm Red C shows that more than eight out of 10 people in the neighbouring Fingal area continue to view Dublin Airport as “a positive force in their community”, he says.
