Dublin Airport’s 32 million a-year passenger limit has become an “international joke” says global air travel industry chief, Irishman Willie Walsh.
Irish and US airlines are threatening legal action over a 32 million a-year passenger cap imposed on the country’s biggest airport by planners in 2007 to control road traffic.
Mr Walsh, chief executive of global body, the International Air Transport Association, declared on Wednesday that his industry has branded the limit a joke.
“International airlines want to serve the Irish market, they want to serve Dublin, and they can’t because of this restriction,” he told the Institute for European and International Affairs.
He warned that Irish people would face higher fares as a consequence of the cap, as demand for air travel exceeded the airport’s capacity as a result of the “artificial” constraint.
Mr Walsh, previously creator and chief executive of International Airlines Group, which owns Irish carrier Aer Lingus, along with British Airways and Spain’s Iberia, argued that the Government should step into the row.
He said that any court solution might only be temporary and it would require Government action to permanently resolve the row.
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