Aviation authority introduces seat capacity limit to comply with Dublin Airport planning conditions
Under planning conditions, Dublin Airport is limited to 32 million passengers a year travelling through its terminals. File Photo
The Irish Aviation Authority has implemented a seat capacity limit on airlines flying into Dublin Airport of 14.4 million which will be in place this winter season in order to comply with planning conditions.
The IAA, who is responsible for declaring co-ordination parameters at Irish airports, considers the winter season to be between October 27 and March 29.
During the winter period, the IAA has decided runway activity will be limited to 970 flights per 24-hour period split between arrivals and departures. The limit for passengers is set at 3,700 per hour for departures in both terminal one and terminal two while terminal one will be allowed 3,550 passengers per hour in arrivals with terminal two allowed 3,050.
The authority said it received approximately 70 responses in relation to the winter parameters most of which related to the passenger cap at Dublin Airport.
Dublin Airport’s planning permission limits the number of passengers that can pass through its terminals to 32 million a year. Last year, it came very close to breaching that figure, registering 31.9 million passengers.
Airlines generally took issue with the passenger limits arguing that it was not a “relevant constraint” on the allocation of slots. However, the IAA said that it was not persuaded to make any adjustment to their limits.
In its letter to the IAA, Aer Lingus argued that the authority’s role is limited to setting capacity through the allocation of slots and “it is not responsible for controlling passenger throughput” in Dublin Airport.
Aer Lingus said that in proposing a cap of 14.4 million passengers, the authority is limiting passenger throughput to abide by the planning conditions “which it has no jurisdiction to do”.
“Control of passenger throughput at Dublin Airport should solely be a matter for daa as the beneficiary of the relevant planning permissions,” Aer Lingus said.
Aer Lingus argued the IAA has not used this justification before for setting the passenger limit and this “inconsistency” now risks causing “significant and irreparable harm” to the airline as it plans its summer schedule next year.
Ryanair on the other hand said it was concerned that the IAA would not permit airlines to redistribute existing historic slot rights to different parts of the season such as from periods of low demand around November to periods of high demand such as Christmas.
However, daa said that the proposals put forward by IAA “are not adequate” to ensure that there will be compliance with its 32 million passenger limit. It added that its forecasts suggest that this year's passenger numbers could be in excess of 32 million.
The IAA concluded that it is not responsible for the enforcement or compliance with the cap and it is up to daa to determine the “appropriate actions to comply”.
