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daa welcomes the Irish Aviation Authority’s (IAA) announcement today of its draft decision to impose a seat cap mechanism for airlines granted slots to fly into Dublin Airport during the Summer 2025 season.
daa is now reviewing the details of the draft decision, which should help Dublin Airport comply with planning in 2025. However, we fully understand the disappointment that will be felt by the airlines already operating at Dublin who want to grow, and airlines that want to come here but can’t get slots. This will also cause anxiety and uncertainty among the 20-thousand people working in aviation jobs across the Dublin Airport campus and the travelling public.
Commenting, daa CEO Kenny Jacobs said: “daa welcomes the IAA’s draft decision as Dublin Airport cannot comply with the 32-million cap next year without this significant reduction in passenger numbers. The details of the draft decision are being reviewed. But we totally get that losing significant seats from the summer 2025 schedule has real consequences for airlines, people working at the airport and the travelling public, as well as knock-on impacts on tourism, jobs and the wider economy. Absolutely no one wants that, but we are between a rock and a hard place. This issue is no longer just an airport or a planning issue, it is now an Ireland issue. Tourism figures released this week show visitor volumes falling in every region of Ireland, and airlines are allocating aircraft to other countries where they can grow. We welcome efforts by the government to find a solution to the impasse while we wait for planning to lift the passenger cap to 40 million a year, which is in line with national aviation policy, the Fingal Development Plan and the Dublin Airport Local Area Plan. Until this happens, we have to support the IAA’s draft decision to cut seats despite the consequences for Ireland.”
The IAA introduced a seat cap mechanism for the first time earlier this year when allocating slots for Winter 2024/25 as part of efforts to comply with the 32-million terminal passenger cap. However, as the Winter 2024/25 cuts did not go far enough to prevent terminal passenger numbers in 2024 exceeding the 32 million planning condition, daa has asked the High Court to intervene and the case will be heard on 3rd December. daa will now review the IAA’s draft decision for Summer 2025 and submit its response.
