The operator of Dublin Airport has said it is, effectively, being blocked from delivering on its mandate of growing business and traffic at the airport because of the current annual passenger cap in place.
The daa said there is huge demand among international airline for flying new routes to Dublin, and while growth at the airport is strong, it is being constrained by the cap.
Kenny Jacobs, chief executive of Dublin Airport operator daa, said: “The number of passengers through Dublin Airport in February was around 5% higher than the same month last year. Numbers through Dublin Airport could obviously be higher, but growth remains constrained due to the terminals cap of 32 million passengers per annum.”
Mr Jacobs added: “Every week, Dublin Airport is speaking with airlines who want to fly directly to Dublin. These are opportunities that daa, given our mandate to connect Ireland with the world, wants to take up – and we know our passengers want them too. But a planning cap of 32 million passengers per year on terminals 1 and 2 makes this a challenging situation. Ultimately raising the cap to 40 million, as daa has proposed in a recent planning application to Fingal County Council, would open the door to more routes and services, more tourists, more jobs, and more economic growth and we hope that process moves quickly. In the meantime, we are continuing to work proactively with the airlines and the Irish Aviation Authority as the slots regulator with a view to managing capacity.”
Mr Jacobs was speaking on the back of latest daa figures showing the strong start to the year – at both Dublin and Cork airports – having continued through February.
A total of 2.3 million passengers passed through Ireland’s two busiest airports last month; 2.1 million at Dublin and 193,000 at Cork.
Those figures represented respective year-on-year growth of 5% and 23%.
Separately, speaking about Cork Airport’s progress, Mr Jacobs said: “The number of passengers through Cork Airport in February was 23% higher than the same month last year. This was the result of strong demand for both our European and UK destinations, and also due to the fact we had an extra day in the month due to it being a Leap Year. The first two months have been busy in Cork and all signs point to it being a record year for passenger numbers.”
