Fares for passengers using Dublin Airport next summer could be forced higher if the number of airline seats has to be cut for the season in order to comply with the ongoing cap, Ryanair has warned.
The airline has suggested that a reduction of up to 1m passengers may be required to ensure that the 32 million per year ceiling at the airport is not breached next year.
“Any such cuts will do real damage to Irish tourism and Irish jobs and will result in much higher air fares for Irish citizens and their families going abroad in summer 2025,” said Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said that 1m figure came from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) which has written to every airline and the daa, inviting proposals on how the reduction will be implemented in practice, and to ensure any reduction will be optimally implemented.
“The IAA don’t even know what they are up to at the moment” he said, adding that the capacity cap was “ridiculous” and “idiotic”.
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Mr O’Leary repeated his call for the Government to scrap the cap, which was put in place as part of the planning permission for the second terminal at the airport.
“This planning restriction, which dates from 2007, was designed to address fears that road access to/from the airport would not be able to facilitate traffic over 32m per year,” Mr O’Leary said.
“It is clear that this concern is no longer valid and since road traffic is not an issue, Minister Ryan should instruct the IAA to ignore this 17-year-old cap.”
Complex issues need to get sorted – Minister
The Minister of State for Transport James Lawless said his door is open to meet with Michael O’Leary, or representatives of any other arlines, over the passenger cap at Dublin Airport.
Minister Lawless said there are complex planning issues at Dublin Airport with a lot of agencies in the mix including; Fingal County Council, An Bord Pleanala and the Irish Aviation Authoriity.
“[We’ve added] a second terminal, second runway, we’ve added capacity and new features, every couple of years, and as is normal with the planning system that has brought with it certain conditions,” he said.
“Those conditions are being hit, and in some cases exceeded, and we need to get it sorted”.
The Minister said there are no passenger caps in the regional airports.
“Michael O’Leary is very welcome to park his planes in Cork, or indeed in Shannon or any other regional airport”. he said.
He also said that he could not understand “how if it costs €50 per head to fly a passenger into Dublin Airport today, why would it cost €500 to fly the same passenger in December”.
“Just because you can doesn’t mean you have to, if Ryanair or any other airline decides to hike up their prices because they have a captive audience that’s a commercial decision they have made,” he said.
The minister said he did not believe a price increase like this would have with the planning conditions.
No suggestion of reduced summer traffic in 2025 – IAA
The IAA is responsible for slot allocation at Dublin Airport.
It has already put a cap of 14.4m passengers in place for the upcoming winter season to ensure the planning permission isn’t breached – the first time a seat capacity limit has actually been used at the airport.
Ryanair said airlines using Dublin Airport have been warned they will not receive extra slots for Christmas flights this winter or for sporting events like the rugby internationals or Premier League matches.
However, a spokesman for the IAA said it has not made any suggestion to reduce summer traffic in 2025.
“None of those extra slots have been approved,” Mr O’Leary said.
“We can’t run slots at Christmas, nobody’s going to be allowed to run extra flights, and therefore the fares this Christmas will be probably double or triple what they have been in recent years – there won’t be enough capacity to fulfill the demand,” he said.
As a result, Mr O’Leary said one way fares between Dublin and London over Christmas could cost €500.
A Coordination Committee at Dublin Airport, which is chaired by operator daa and comprised of airlines using the airport, provides advice to the IAA on the slot coordination parameters for each season.
At a meeting of the committee last week, it is understood that it was extrapolated that if the approach taken by the IAA for the winter slot allocation were to be replicated in the summer it could potentially result in a seat cap of 25.2m for that season.
Sources said if that were to be the cap, it could result in a reduction of around 1m seats over the summer of 2025, as Ryanair has suggested.
A spokesperson for daa declined to comment on the matter.
“At the end of August, the Coordination Committee will finalise its advice for the IAA on this proposal, and on the other coordination parameters for Summer 2025,” the IAA spokesperson said.
“The IAA will consider this advice and expects to then publish a draft decision in early September, which will be the first time that the IAA will make any suggestion or proposal in relation to capacity for Summer 2025.”
Daa, Ryanair and Aer Lingus have all received High Court permission to bring challenges against the IAA’s decision to limit passenger numbers at the airport for the coming winter season.
The airlines have argued that the decision is legally flawed and should be set aside.
Carriers face higher fines for undocumented passengers
Earlier this week, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee signed an order to increase fines for airlines and ferry companies that allow someone to board or disembark without proper documentation.
Maximum fines increased from €3,000 to €5,000.
When asked about Ryanair’s policy on the matter, Mr O’Leary said the airline does not allow people to board without documents so the fines are defective.
“The only time it happens is where we have a passenger traveling on illegal documents, and they flush them down the toilet,” he said.
“They arrive in Dublin Airport and they go into the toilets and get rid of the passports, it’s a completely defective regulation.
“If people arriving at Dublin Airport tear up or flush or throw their documents in the bin, there is nothing the airline can do about it,” he added.