(Bloomberg) -- Ireland’s High Court has agreed to pause the implementation of Dublin Airport’s passenger cap for summer 2025, after airlines Ryanair Holdings Plc and Aer Lingus made an urgent application to the court saying it would negatively impact their access to slots.
The passenger limit of 25 million for next summer, proposed by the Irish Aviation Authority and set to comply with 2007 planning regulations on the roads surrounding the airport, would have serious consequences not only for the carriers, but for the public and the broader economy too, Justice Barry O’Donnell ruled Monday.
Airlines have run into plans to restrict capacity at hubs across Europe as cities try to balance out concerns raised by local residents about noise and congestion, with the rapid rebound of travel from the ebbs of the pandemic. The Dutch government in in Amsterdam airport scrapped similar curbs at Amsterdam after opposition for airlines and the travel industry.
Airlines for America, the trade group which represents carriers including Delta Air Lines and United Airlines Holdings Inc, had also made a filing to the court, saying in an October statement that the decision to apply a restriction on passenger numbers for operations at Dublin Airport was a violation of the US-EU Open Skies agreement. Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary called the cap “outdated” and “absurd” in a statement Monday.
A separate cap imposed on winter slots starting this year will also be challenged by Ryanair and Aer Lingus, in a case due to be heard in the first week of December. Dublin’s airport authority, daa, is challenging the winter decision too, although on different grounds to the airlines, as it wants further cuts to the winter slots to ensure it can comply with the cap in 2024.
The annual 32 million cap on passengers was imposed by Ireland’s planning body as part of the conditions for a second terminal at Dublin airport, due to concerns about road infrastructure into the airport.
The Irish Aviation Authority said it noted the decision in a statement, adding that “the alleged harm identified by the airlines flows from the planning conditions rather than from the IAA taking account of those conditions.”
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