2 days Ago
The move by the High Court to freeze the impact of Dublin Airport’s passenger cap is not enough for Ryanair to pull the trigger on its ambitious Irish growth plans, the airline has said. But the airline has plans to put 16 new aircraft into the airport – creating 800 Irish jobs – if ongoing moves to get rid of the airport’s growth restriction are successful. The 32-million-a-year cap on passengers using Dublin Airport was a condition of the 2007 planning permission for the airport’s then new terminal.
Read more That cap is set to be breached this year, and the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) had decided to limit passenger numbers at the airport to 25.2 million between late March and October next. Last week, in the first real sign of a breakthrough that could lead to the removal of the controversial limit, the High Court agreed to put on hold any potential impacts of the cap.
Ryanair group chief executive Michael O'Leary. Photo: PA “The High Court’s stay ruling prevents the IAA from imposing slot restrictions on Dublin’s summer 2025 traffic until the EU courts have ruled on the matter – but it doesn’t remove the 2007 traffic cap,” said a Ryanair spokesperson. “While this ruling will prevent the loss of over one million passengers travelling to/from Dublin Airport next summer, the cap remains in place and is preventing additional growth at the airport,” she said.
Ryanair “wants to invest and grow in Ireland” and has already submitted “an ambitious growth proposal to Government – that would grow Irish traffic to 30 million passengers per annum by 2030, see Ryanair base 16 new Boeing 737 aircraft here and create 800 jobs in Ireland – which has been ignored,” she said. The cap remains in place and is preventing additional growth at the airport “We look forward to working with a new transport minister to urgently prioritise growing traffic, tourism and jobs at Dublin Airport.” Ryanair, Aer Lingus and a group of American carriers have pursued legal challenges to the cap, and group chief executive Michael O’Leary has said that the airline is willing to pursue the case to the European Court.
Read more.
