The incoming Government must immediately honour election promises to abolish the 32 million a-year passenger cap on Dublin Airport, Ryanair reemphasised on Thursday.
Both Coalition parties pledged to axe the limit – on which European courts have been asked to rule – during November’s election campaign.
As Micheál Martin was being voted in as Taoiseach on Thursday, Ryanair chief executive Eddie Wilson called on the incoming Government to lift the 32 million a-year cap on passengers at the country’s biggest gateway to boost tourism and jobs.
The airline made the call as it announced plans to fly a record 123 routes from Dublin Airport this summer.
Mr Wilson, chief executive of the airline group’s largest company, Ryanair DAC, said it would take the new minister for transport “five minutes” to end the restriction on Dublin Airport.
He argued that the airport’s two runways, including a second airstrip that opened in 2022, allowed it handle up to 60 million passengers a-year.
“The second runway is open, the infrastructure is built, but we want to regulate on how not to use it,” Mr Wilson said.
Ryanair believes that European courts will throw out the cap, as it clashes with EU air travel treaties with the US and Canada as well as the bloc’s rules on the allocation of take-off and landing slots to airlines at airports.
The Irish High Court stalled steps taken by regulators to implement the cap pending the European courts’ ruling and the outcome of a challenge by airlines, including Ryanair.
That suspended the cap, leaving airlines free to boost capacity past the 32 million a-year limit at Dublin.
However, Ryanair said this is only a temporary solution that offers no long-term certainty beyond the summer. It wants the new Government to permanently axe the restriction as one of its first acts.
Mr Wilson was speaking before the appointment as transport minister of Darragh O’Brien, whose Fingal East constituency includes areas close to Dublin Airport.
Ryanair plans to add a new route to Morrocan capital Rabat from Dublin this summer bringing its total to 123, its highest ever.
It intends increasing the number of flights on 18 existing services to sunspots including Faro, Ibiza, Malta, Milan and Valencia.
The carrier will return 14 Boeing 737 gamechanger aircraft with low carbon emissions and noise levels to Dublin following the resolution of a complaint on airport operator DAA’s incentive scheme for more environmentally friendly aircraft.
Kenny Jacobs, DAA chief executive, welcomed the news and noted that 40 per cent of flights would be on the quieter, more fuel efficient aircraft.
Ryanair also wants Government to change funding rules for regional airports that it says will hinder growth outside the capital.
The State aids infrastructure building at airports with fewer than one million passengers a-year, allowed under EU rules. Ryanair maintains that it can increase this threshold to three million.
Mr Wilson argued the current rules would discourage growth at airports such as Knock, which handled a record 834,000 passengers last year, that were approaching the one million mark.
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