Airlines for America warns Dublin Airport passenger cap may bring 'repercussions' from Trump

Director general of the International Air Transport Association, Willie Walsh, said the cap needs to be addressed by September at the very latest

Chief executive of Airlines for America, Chris Sununu, told the Joint Committee on Transport if Ireland were to limit US flights coming in, then there’s 'no doubt' the US 'may look at limiting Irish flights coming in'. Photo: Sam Boal/Collins Photos.

The chief executive of Airlines for America has warned that Ireland could face “repercussions” from the Donald Trump administration over the Government’s failure to address the passenger cap at Dublin Airport quickly.

Under the airport’s current planning permission, it is limited to managing 32 million passengers a year. However, the imposition of the limit has been suspended while a challenge — brought by Ryanair, Aer Lingus, and Airlines for America — works its way through the European courts.

Last year, Dublin Airport managed 36.4 million passengers through its terminals.

In February, transport minister Darragh O’Brien announced that he had secured Cabinet approval to draft the Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026 which will provide him with the power to amend or revoke the passenger cap. At the time, there was an expectation that the legislation would be in place before the summer.

Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Wednesday, director general of the International Air Transport Association, Willie Walsh, said the cap introduced “significant uncertainty” which is “very unhelpful” when it comes to airlines planning their summer schedules for next year.

He said that the cap needs to be addressed by September at the very latest.

"The absolute critical date is October 1 when the declaration of capacity at Dublin Airport is taken but that'll be too late because airlines will already have taken decisions,” he said, adding that if airlines don’t have assurances well before then they will start looking at other options for their aircraft.

Mr Walsh said that if the European court case rules that the passenger cap can stand, then not only will it mean no growth at Dublin Airport but there will be a “significant reduction” in services.

He said reducing passengers down from 36.4 million to 32 million would be “catastrophic”.

Repercussions

Chief executive of Airlines for America, Chris Sununu, who is also the former Republican governor of the US State of New Hampshire, said if Ireland were to limit US flights coming in, then there’s “no doubt” the US “may look at limiting Irish flights coming in, primarily, probably to New York and places like that”.

He also added that Ireland won’t want to see opportunities such as the fast track gateway access to the US at Dublin Airport “be retracted”. Mr Sununu also warned that there could be a domino effect which could then impact on industry and foreign direct investment if the matter is not addressed.

"None of it has to happen. No one wants it to happen,” Mr Sununu. "When agreements with the US, when it is seen on the other side of the Atlantic that that is being violated, there just will be retaliation or rebalancing. I don't know exactly what that would look like, but believe me, it's not going unnoticed by the administration.” 

Mr Sununu said this is a “top priority issue” for the people he represents as well as the “greater kind of economic interest within the US”. "The open skies agreement is pretty clear," he said. 

"You have to provide effectively up to the capacity of the system of the airport. You have to provide that unfettered access, as long as there's gates and flights and access available,” before adding that when agreements like this are violated it “does come with repercussions and economic impact”.

He added that the US administration “doesn't really prescribe exactly what they're going to do until they wake up and they decide to do it” and hopefully the passenger cap can be ratified before the court case is adjudicated.