Dublin Airport faces unexpected twist in passenger capacity legal battle
Irish court blocks aviation authorityʼs plan to cut Dublin Airportʼs passenger seats for next summer High Court decision opens way for European-level review of airports long-standing capacity limits
The Irish High-court made a game-changing decision about Dublin Airports capacity issues blocking the IAA from implementing new passenger limits
Dublin Airport which handles most of the countrys air traffic (about four-fifths) has been dealing with an old-fashioned cap of 32M passengers; This limit was set way back in 07 when they got permission to build terminal 2 mainly to keep local roads from getting too busy
The IAA wanted to set a strict 25‚2M seat limit for summer-25 season (a five-percent drop from current numbers) but their plan didnt work out. The authority told the court that pausing these limits would help keep current flight slots and make room for new routes and special flights like ones for sports events
Ryanair - who led the charge against these limits with other airlines - got what they wanted: The case can now move to European Courts where theyʼre pretty sure theyʼll win against the broader passenger restrictions. The airline thinks its time to remove these old-school limits that were set almost two decades ago
The airports already going over its limit this year - theyre looking at about 1M extra passengers than what was originally allowed. This situation has created a real head-scratcher for everyone involved in Irish aviation planning and operations
