Enforcement of a 32 million a year limit on passengers at Dublin Airport was suspended by the High Court on Wednesday pending the outcome of a legal challenge that has been referred to Europe.
State regulator, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) had indicated that it would take the passenger cap, which is a planning condition, into account when allocating take-off and landing slots to airlines at Dublin.
On Wednesday, Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell halted the authority from doing so, pending the outcome of a High Court challenge taken last year by Irish airlines, Ryanair and Aer Lingus, and Airlines for America, which represents US and Canadian carriers.
His order followed a hearing on Friday during which the airlines argued that the court should halt the IAA from taking the cap into account when allocating slots until the case is resolved.
Wednesday’s ruling effectively suspends implementation of the cap until the court finally deals with the challenge that the airlines began last year, although the planning condition itself remains.
During Friday’s hearing, the IAA told the court that it was likely to follow previous decisions and take the restriction into account when allocating airline slots at Dublin Airport, which it does twice a year in advance of each summer and winter.
The IAA is not obliged to comply with the limit, as it is a planning condition, but it believes rules governing how it allocates slots at the airport oblige it to take the restriction into account.
Mr Justice O’Donnell said that the balance of justice favoured the airlines’ argument that the IAA should be halted from doing this pending the outcome of the action they launched in 2024.
He granted the injunction the airlines sought. “That order remains in place pending the determination of these proceedings by the High Court,” he said.
However, the passenger restriction, imposed by An Bord Pleanála in 2007 to ease fears of traffic jams on roads leading the airport, remains in place.
DAA has made separate applications to local planning authority, Fingal County Council, to lift the limit to 36 million and 40 million.
The State company maintains that it has taken every possible step to ensure compliance with the 32 million limit, but it cannot stop airlines from using the airport.
Mr Justice O’Donnell last November initially halted the IAA from applying the cap when allocating airline slots from March to October of this year – air travel’s summer season.
Last December, he referred issues raised by Irish and US airlines relating to European Union law and the bloc’s air travel treaties with North America to the European courts.
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The Court of Justice of the European Union will have to rule on those points before the airlines’ case can proceed.
Ryanair sparked Friday’s hearing when it wrote to other parties saying that the IAA should be stayed from considering the limit pending the outcome of the airlines’ challenge. The other airlines agreed while the IAA remained neutral, but did not object.
Ryanair chief executive, Michael O’Leary, welcomed the High Court ruling, calling on Darragh O’Brien, Minister for Transport, to introduce laws removing Dublin Airport from the local planning process.
“The time for dithering and delaying is over,” he said. “Dublin Airport is losing out on traffic growth because of an 18-year-old planning restriction, which is no longer relevant.”
Mr O’Leary and Ryanair DAC chief executive, Eddie Wilson, met Mr O’Brien yesterday at Leinster House to discuss the cap. The minister also met Airlines for America this week, his department confirmed.
