Michael O'Leary: Dublin Airport's 'insane' passenger cap will cause 'massive crisis' at Christmas
Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary was sharply critical of the Daa, including its provision for car parking at the airport, its pursuit of a €200m tunnel on the site, and the toilets and seating facilities at Dublin Airport.
There will be a “massive crisis” at Dublin Airport this Christmas due to its “insane” passenger cap, with fares costing €1,000 for a return trip, Michael O’Leary has claimed.
The Ryanair Group CEO told an Oireachtas committee he will “make a fortune” this Christmas which “suits [him] fine” but that Government and politicians will get the blame for it.
The 32 million passenger cap at Dublin Airport is restricting growth at the airport, Mr O’Leary said, adding that other countries in Europe are “laughing at the failure” of Ireland’s aviation policy and the cap must be scrapped.
“We’ve made the submission to the transport minister [Eamon Ryan] on 7th of March that would take traffic growth at Shannon up 50% over the next six years, and traffic in Cork would go up by 100% in the next five years,” he said.
“But unless we’re growing in Dublin, we will not be able to sustain or put in more aircraft or routes in Cork, Shannon or Knock.” At Cork for example, it’s understood Ryanair told the Government it could expand its capacity from three aircraft and 1.9 million passengers in 2023 to seven aircraft and 4.5 million passengers by 2030.
“We need the Government to take urgent action quickly now,” Mr O’Leary said.
He said that Ryanair had sought to accommodate a further half a million passengers this autumn and winter period, but that had been rejected. It will mean passengers coming home for Christmas could end up paying €500 each way to come back via Dublin, he said.
While there was some capacity to allow passengers to return home via Belfast, this additional capacity for Ryanair would go to Italy and Poland instead.
Ryanair representatives at the committee said that with the potential for An Bord Pleanála appeals and judicial reviews into the planning process to increase the passenger cap at Dublin Airport, it would take four years for this process to conclude.
It claimed there were two mechanisms that the Government could immediately take to address the issue, even while the planning process was ongoing.
Ryanair’s director of competition and regulatory affairs, Eoin Kealy, said Mr Ryan could introduce emergency legislation to scrap the passenger cap, adding that it’s the “perfect time” to do it with the Government currently railroading its massive planning bill through the Oireachtas.
He added that Minister for Local Government Darragh O’Brien could designate Dublin Airport as “strategic infrastructure” under specific legislative provisions that could see the cap quickly scrapped.
The Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal, where residents have hit out at the impact of aircraft noise, however pushed back on the claims from Ryanair that Government could take such immediate action. “There always has to be regulatory decisions,” he said.
“I repeat what I said about the capacity of the Government to intervene and, like that, change the highest planning authority in the country’s decision. Is that unfortunate? Sure.
The Ryanair boss was sharply critical of the Daa, including its provision for car parking at the airport, its pursuit of a €200m tunnel on the site, and the toilets and seating facilities at Dublin Airport.
Mr O’Leary also claimed he would be dead before the Metro North is built but claimed it wouldn’t even address issues getting to and from Dublin Airport. He added that Mr Ryan directly intervened recently to allow additional flights to come to Dublin for the recent soccer Europa League final.
Although ostensibly to discuss the impact of the passenger cap at Dublin Airport, the long-time Ryanair boss also hit out at a range of different issues including the “disgraceful” location of the National Children’s Hospital, the housing crisis and the number of bicycle lanes in Dublin during the Transport Committee sitting.
A spokesperson for Daa later hit back at Mr O’Leary, saying the tunnel was needed for the safe and efficient running of the airport.
“If adding more parking at Dublin Airport was as simple as Mr O’Leary suggests then we would have done it already,” the spokesperson said. “To add parking spaces, you need planning permission and the local planning laws state that no more additional parking spaces are currently allowed in the vicinity of Dublin Airport.”
The spokesperson added there was “no reason” why it should take four years to get permission to grow Dublin Airport beyond the 32 million passenger gap.
Both the Daa and Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan are due before the committee in the coming weeks.
