*Shannon Airport.
DUBLIN Airport’s passenger cap will have to be lifted, the Tánaiste has said which is likely to dent aspirations for further regional aviation development across the country at locations including Shannon Airport.
On Monday, both Aer Lingus and Ryanair secured formal High Court permission to bring challenges against a decision by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to limit passenger numbers in Dublin Airport for the coming winter season.
Last May, the IAA announced that it would be imposing a Passenger Air Traffic Movement (PATM ) seat cap of just over 14.4 million passengers in Dublin Airport from 27 October until 29 March. Both airlines claim that the decision is legally flawed and should be set aside. The grounds of the airlines’ challenges include that, in arriving at its decision, the IAA acted outside of its powers, outside of its jurisdiction, has acted irrationally.
It is also claimed that the IAA has failed to give proper reasons for its decision, and has breached various constitutional rights of the airlines, including their property rights.
Separate High Court action against the IAA’s decision has also been taken by the Dublin Airport Authority (daa).
Shannon’ exited the daa umbrella in 2013 and the daa has said it will incentivise airlines to use Cork Airport as an alternative rather than Shannon. Lobbyists for Shannon Airport remain opposed to the lifting of the passenger cap.
CEO of the daa, Kenny Jacobs outlined, “Airlines that move routes and traffic from Dublin to Cork Airport will be offered lower charges at Cork Airport to encourage airlines to keep those routes in Ireland and to support jobs and connectivity.”
Tánaiste Micheál Martin (FF) when questioned by The Clare Echo denied that he would be native to his native Cork if the passenger cap was to remain and more traffic would be redirected to Cork Airport and not Shannon Airport or Knock. “The airlines dictate but I think the cap will have to be lifted in Dublin, the planners will deal with but if you have population growth then the airports will do economically well, Shannon has made a great recovery from COVID and the Government has pumped a lot of money in to keep Shannon and Cork going along with Dublin Airport. Shannon is benefitting from the Government’s investment during COVID”.
He added, “Passenger numbers are close to two million now, it is fantastic but we will give financial support through the sustainability fund”.
Minister for Finance, Jack Chambers (FF) during his time as a Junior Minister in the Department of Transport with responsibility for aviation, told The Clare Echo in November that a passenger cap remaining was not necessarily going to benefit Shannon. “Putting a hard cap on Dublin doesn’t necessarily mean we will see automatic spill over to our regions either and there is multiple factors which contribute to why an airline will locate in a particular region or indeed a particular country, we’re competing with other countries to locate in Ireland at all and that is the wider assessment. We want to ensure that balanced regional development is a key part of our planning framework and our development plan, there are opportunities in aviation for more jobs and growth for Shannon and the Mid-West region”.
