Dublin Airport will exceed the 32 million passenger cap this year, the airport’s operator DAA said on Friday, after experiencing its busiest-ever June with more than 3.5 million passengers travelling through the hub.
The State-owned company said it will have to turn away 4 million passengers this year if it is to comply with the cap, which was imposed by An Bord Pleanála in 2007.
The cap was breached last year when 33.3 million passengers came through the airport.
In June, some 3.5 million people travelled through the airport, up 5.8 per cent on the same month last year. US passengers were up 4 per cent year-on-year, DAA said, and Sunday June 29th was Dublin Airport’s busiest ever with 129,000 passengers.
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DAA also said on Friday that Fingal County Council’s decision to serve an enforcement notice on the airport relating to the cap last month has caused “considerable concern” among stakeholders.
The airport operator said it joins Ryanair, Airlines for America, IATA and other stakeholders in “urging the Government to share proposals to resolve the cap impasse before the Dáil breaks for the summer on July 17th.
“Any other airport in Europe would be delighted to break previous passenger records, knowing the huge economic contribution that comes from welcoming 3.54m visitors to our shores,” DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs said.
“But for Dublin, it’s bittersweet: the outdated cap remains a millstone weighing down every airline considering keeping or starting new routes, which has ripple effects for any business investing in Ireland as well as our home-grown industries, particularly tourism.”
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The former Ryanair executive said TUI’s decision to remove two aircraft from Dublin Airport from next summer is a reminder of “how easily airlines can decide to relocate” resources away from Ireland.
Mr Jacobs said Ireland would be hanging up a “closed for business sign” if DAA is required to turn away passengers to avoid breaching the passenger cap.
“The Government has confirmed it supports a lifting of the cap and ‘will do whatever we can to achieve this’,” he said. “We encourage the Government to share the solutions under consideration and the timeline to get this done.”
DAA applied to the council for permission to increase the cap to 36 million and 40 million in separate applications, but has yet to receive a decision from the planning authority.
However, in April the High Court effectively suspended the passenger cap pending the outcome of a legal challenge relating to the limit taken last year by Irish airlines Ryanair and Aer Lingus, and Airlines for America, which represents US and Canadian carriers.
