Dublin Airport Overshoots Passenger Cap

Dublin Airport breached its passenger cap of 32 million passengers in 2024, ending the year having handled 33.3 million.

The figure—a rise of 4% on 2023’s figure—came despite the efforts of DAA, the airport authority, to dampen demand. These efforts meant that airlines could not schedule all the flights they wanted, a move that has angered several airlines, notably Ireland-based ULCC Ryanair.

A DAA spokesperson said Jan. 14 that it was difficult to predict what sanctions, if any, might be levied on the airport by the local planning authority, Fingal County Council (FCC), for breaching the cap. “What typically happens if we exceed that number is that we would receive a letter saying they are investigating the matter,” the DAA spokesperson said.

DAA noted that, on 171 days of 2024, the airport handled more than 100,000 passengers a day, “demonstrating its operational capacity to manage 36 million passengers a year.” On Dec. 20, 2024, DAA lodged a “no build” Operational Application with FCC seeking permission to lift the passenger cap to 36 million a year, a figure it said it could achieve without the necessity for any construction works at the airport.

“As the application does not seek permission to build any infrastructure, DAA hopes that it can move swiftly through the planning system and provide a short-term solution to the terminals cap impasse impacting Ireland’s connectivity, tourism and economy,” DAA said.

In parallel, the airport lodged an application in December 2023 for an increase to 40 million passengers, a rise that would require works such as extending piers at the airport, with an estimated cost of €2.4 billion ($2.5 billion).

At a press conference in Dublin Jan. 14, DAA CEO Kenny Jacobs said that he anticipated that the question of expansion of passenger numbers might be solved more quickly through a case currently before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). This is the result of a challenge by several airlines against a decision by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to limit the number of passenger seats that could fly into the airport over the summer season, citing the need to comply with the limit.

Jacobs said that the case, which is likely to come before the ECJ in 2025, is likely to move faster than DAA’s application through Ireland’s planning system.

The European case would see the ECJ sending its decision back to Ireland’s High Court for the latter to decide on slots and thus the number of allowable flights and passengers.

However, as the High Court has placed a stay on the seat cap element of the IAA’s summer slots decision pending clarity from the ECJ, the IAA is able to grant additional slots to airlines for summer 2025.