Summary
- In line with Ryanair, Dublin Airport’s (DUB) traffic cap risks driving up flight prices.
- The low-cost carrier has demanded that the Irish regulator lift the 32 million annual passenger cap at DUB.
- Data showed that DUB may have fewer flights and seats throughout the upcoming winter season, yet more capability, measured in available seat kilometers (ASK).
Ryanair, the Irish low-cost carrier, has stated that following the newest slot allocation at Dublin Airport (DUB) for the upcoming winter season, over 1 million seats have to be eliminated from the airline’s network. As such, Ryanair called for Eamon Ryan, the Transport Minister of Ireland, to eliminate the traffic cap at DUB.
Risks of rising prices
Ryanair argued that it received 1 million fewer seats than required to fulfill the demand from passengers who wish to travel during various holidays throughout the period. In line with the airline, it said that DUB’s traffic cap is leading to airlines being unable to match the demand from passengers, which risks driving up the value of flights to levels not seen because the Nineteen Eighties.
The Irish carrier identified that the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) would limit DUB’s winter capability to 14.4 million passengers, being the primary time that the regulator has imposed such a cap. Moreover, Ryanair highlighted that it planned to hold 7.5 million passengers from/to DUB while launching 15 recent routes from the airport.
Photo: Milosz Maslanka/Shutterstock
Nonetheless, it was allocated only 6.4 million seats, which leaves Ireland’s tourism, jobs, and economy and passengers facing soaring airfares on account of the lower capability at DUB. In line with the low-cost carrier, it has already switched three aircraft, 16 recent routes, and over 200 jobs to base/s in Southern Italy, which might have gone to DUB.
As a substitute, they were blocked by the unreal traffic cap, which also forced Ryanair to remove its Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 aircraft since the daa – the operator of DUB and Cork Airport (ORK) – didn’t have a fit environmental scheme, which was confirmed by the IAA.
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Calling to lift the cap
Eddie Wilson, Ryanair’s chief executive officer (CEO), reiterated that the airline looked so as to add three recent Boeing 737s to its fleet at DUB, yet the slot allocation forced the low-cost carrier to regulate its plans. As such, Wilson said that it was that the Irish Transport Minister, Ryan, has done nothing up to now 4 years to alter the developments at DUB.
Photo: Ryanair
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One airline referred to the present capability restrictions as “idiotic.”
Flat growth
In line with documents from the IAA, DUB’s runway hourly limits have remained flat year-on-year (YoY). Through the previous winter season, which lasted between October 29, 2023, and March 30, 2024, the every day runway limits for arrivals and departures were 589 and 619 flights, respectively, totaling 970 flights per day. These have remained the identical for the upcoming winter 2024 season, which starts on October 27, 2024, and ends on March 29, 2025.
Meanwhile, the Irish regulator’s documents showed that throughout the current summer season, the runway hourly limits are 609 and 647 flights for arrivals and departures, totaling 1,034 flights per day.
The IAA, which published its final decision on the slot allocation at DUB on May 7, argued that airlines generally consider the planning conditions—the 2007 planning permission permitting the annual capability of Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 to 32 million passengers at DUB—to not be a relevant constraint.
Photo: Croatorum | Shutterstock
In consequence, the Irish regulator established the associated seat cap on in response to the airlines.The IAA argued that local residents expressed that the conditions are a relevant constraint, but airlines feel the authority estimated its associated seat cap parameter on a very generous basis from the residents’ perspective. Lastly, daa, the airport operator, said that the limiting constraint established by the planning conditions have to be reflected within the slot allocation without providing a proposal to the IAA.
In line with data from the aviation analytics company Cirium, between October 2023 and March 2024, DUB had 51,087 scheduled departures, amounting to 9 million seats and 15.7 billion available seat kilometers (ASK). As compared, from October 2024 to March 2025, DUB may have fewer flights (50,948) and seats (8.9 million) but more ASKs (16 billion).
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