One-way flights from Dublin to London could cost up to €500 this Christmas, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has warned, in the latest chapter of the airline’s dispute with Dublin Airport over limits on flight and passenger numbers.
Mr O’Leary claimed the airline and other airlines applied for extra slots for flights this Christmas but were refused by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).
“We run about 270,000 extra slots at Christmas time every year just to keep fares down. We can’t run those extra slots… therefore the fares this Christmas will be double or triple.
“We think the fares will be about €500 one-way,” Mr O’Leary said on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme.
Mr O’Leary said he was also informed of a reduction of one million passengers at Dublin Airport next year in a letter from an Irish Aviation Authority on August 14.
“They have written to all the airlines at the airport and the DAA inviting us to submit proposals as to how such a reduction would be implemented in practice and to ensure that any such reduction would be optimally implemented,” he said.
In response to queries, the IAA said it had earlier this year conducted a stakeholder consultation on its proposals for capacity at Dublin Airport for winter 2024/5.
“That consultation closed on Wednesday 24 April, and we published a final decision on capacity for the Winter 2024/5 season on 7 May,” a spokesperson said, directing queries towards the report published at the time.
In relation to next summer, it said it expected to publish a draft decision early next month that would be “the first time the IAA will make any suggestion or proposal in relation to capacity for summer 2025”.
Mr O’Leary labelled the IAA’s response as “bureaucratic waffle”.
“The problem here is that we have a ridiculous traffic cap of 32 million passengers on the main gateway airport in Ireland. It was imposed in 2007 because there was serious concerns about road access to the airport. Those fears no longer apply.
“Fingal County Council don’t even respect the cap because they have issued planning approval for a second runway which takes passenger numbers in Dublin Airport up to 60 million passengers,” Mr O’Leary said.
He claimed that Ireland’s tourism industry was “now being strangled by a defective 17-year-old road traffic concern”.
Mr O’Leary said less than 5pc of passengers used public transport to access Dublin Airport in 2007, which he said had now risen to over 25pc.
“There is no problem for traffic accessing to and from Dublin Airport. We have opened a second runway, which doubles the capacity of Dublin Airport.
“Airlines all over Europe, including Aer Lingus, American Airways and Ryanair want to add new routes to our main gateway to this island,” he said.
The Ryanair chief executive said: “We have an incompetent Transport Minister who won’t lift a finger to remove this defective 17-year-old traffic cap.”
A spokesperson for Mr Ryan has previously said “it is a planning matter and the Transport Minister cannot interfere in the planning process”.
Mr O’Leary described Mr Ryan as an “abject failure in his four or five years as a Transport Minister”, adding that the minister had previously written to An Bord Pleanála setting out Government policy in relation to the Shannon LNG.
“He doesn’t want to touch aviation… Dublin is the second most congested city in the world for traffic,” the Ryanair boss said.
Mr O’Leary said that Dublin Airport had already applied to Fingal County Council to remove the restriction – however the process, which he believes will be removed, would take three to four years.
When asked why Mr Ryan, who is also the Environment Minister, would increase carbon emission through additional flights, Mr O’Leary said “he is the minister for transport, not the minister for the environment”.
Mr Ryan is Minister for Transport, Climate, Environment and Communications.
Mr O’Leary said Mr Ryan was the minister who opened the second runway, however “he won’t lift a finger to allow us to use the second runway”.
“We would have added another three aircraft and another million passengers if there was no restrictions at the airport,” Mr O’Leary said.
He said there was capacity at Dublin Airport for 50 to 60 million passengers per year, adding that 50pc of traffic was inbound and would bolster the economy.
“Why is Ireland building this extra infrastructure if we can’t use it?” Mr O’Leary added.
In response to a query from the Irish Independent, the IAA said it had made no suggestion to reduce summer traffic in 2025.
“The coordination committee at Dublin Airport provides advice to the IAA on the slot coordination parameters to be declared for each season. The committee consists of DAA (chair), Ryanair, Aer Lingus, AirNav Ireland and other airlines using the airport,” it said.
“We are aware that at a coordination committee meeting on 8 August DAA outlined a proposed seat cap of 25.2m seats for Summer 2025.
“At the end of August, the coordination committee will finalise its advice for the IAA on this proposal, and on the other coordination parameters for Summer 2025.
“The IAA will consider this advice and expects to then publish a draft decision in early September, which will be the first time that the IAA will make any suggestion or proposal in relation to capacity for Summer 2025.”
Regarding slot allocation and decisions, the IAA said as required by the EU Slot Regulation, the IAA has appointed a company Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) to act as the independent slot coordinator at Dublin Airport.
“The availability of slots in the coordination process is based on specific capacity parameters as set by the IAA, such as runway capacity, parking stands, passenger processing capacity, etc,” it said.
“Slots can be allocated to requesting airlines if there is available capacity within the parameters.”