French tour operators fear that a limit on passengers at Dublin Airport will hit 5,000 fans travelling to support the country’s team in its Six Nations Rugby clash with Ireland next March.
French tour operators are “frustrated and concerned” with the limit as it threatens their plans to operate charter flights for fans travelling to the Ireland-France Six Nations Rugby game on March 8th.
They are seeking an exemption from the cap to allow charters to land at Dublin Airport next March and brand any effort to block or redirect them as unacceptable.
Three tour operators say that up to 80 per cent of the 5,000 people planning to travel with them in March could cancel if the companies are forced to land at airports outside Dublin.
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Yohann Bellevegue of Couleur Rugby, Gregory Sevault of Mycomm and Johannes Mercier of Hemispheres Voyages, noted that French law allows passengers to cancel where tour operators change destination airports.
Industry regulators have limited take-off and landing slots at Dublin Airport over this winter and next summer in light of the passenger cap. Planners imposed a 32 million-a-year cap on passengers at the country’s biggest airport in 2007 in response to fears of traffic congestion on roads leading to the gateway.
Irish airlines Aer Lingus and Ryanair have warned that winter slot allocations, limiting carriers to 14.4 million passengers at the airport between this month and late March, eliminate scope for extra flights to cater for sports fans.
[ High Court to hear Ryanair and Aer Lingus on Dublin Airport summer passenger capOpens in new window ]
Both highlighted the extra flights for the Six Nations tournament, played through February and March, as a likely casualty of the cap.
Ireland has three away games, in Scotland, Wales and Italy, in 2025, all of which would usually lure large numbers of fans, while the England and France games in Dublin would normally be expected to bring in large contingents of supporters.
The cap could also affect those travelling to Cheltenham in England for its horse racing festival in March, which is popular with Irish people.
Airlines have also suggested that were the cap to remain, it would hit Government-backed efforts to bring the British Open golf tournament and NFL American football games to Dublin.
The French tour operators point out in a letter to State airports company DAA that the 5,000 fans who they intend flying to the capital in March have already booked more than 2,500 hotel rooms and “secured thousands of reservations and local restaurants”.
They warn that cancellations would have a “devastating impact on the local economy, depriving hotels, restaurants and other businesses of the significant profits generated by this event”.
They list 29 chartered flights, each carrying between 189 and 213 passengers, due to land at Dublin on March 6th and 7th next.
“Given the immense economic impact of these visitors, we find it unacceptable that our charter flights could be blocked or redirected due to the passenger cap,” the trio said.
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