Irish court halts summer seat cap at Dublin Airport

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s High Court on Monday prevented the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) from cutting the number of passenger seats available at Dublin Airport next summer after the regulator imposed a cap to comply with planning restrictions.

The number of passengers at Dublin airport, which carries around 80% of the country’s air passengers, was capped at 32 million when planners approved the construction of a second terminal in 2007, in part to avoid local road congestion.

The airport has warned it is on course to overshoot that by a million passengers this year. The IAA last month set a 25.2 million seat limit for the busy March 2025 to October 2025 period, a cut of around 5% year-on-year.

It said at the time it expected demand for airport slots to significantly exceed that and told the court that a pause to its limit would permit the full reallocation of this year’s slots and facilitate demand for new routes and ad hoc flights such as those for sporting events.

Ireland’s largest airline Ryanair, one of a number of airlines which sought a court pause on the summer limit, said the ruling cleared the way for the matter to be referred to the European Courts where it was “confident” the broader passenger cap will be removed.