Irish Aviation Authority denies calling for alternate flight paths at Dublin Airport

A spokesperson for Daa said new flight plans had been implemented per “a safety issue as set down by” the International Civil Aviation Authority. File Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

The Irish Aviation Authority has denied it required alternate flight paths at Dublin Airport on foot of safety concerns, stating its role is solely to evaluate the safety of the paths with which it is presented.

In a submission responding to a draft decision by An Bord Pleanála on nighttime flights at the airport, the IAA said that if the planning board had been “uncertain” regarding the authority’s role in determining those flight paths then it should have engaged directly with the regulator “to obtain clarity”.

“This is preferable to making assumptions regarding what is required for safe operations,” the submission said.

A report by an inspector with An Bord Pleanála underpinned the draft decision, which concerns a ‘relevant action’ by airport administrator Daa seeking to alter the terms of planning for the Dublin Airport’s north runway.

The report was delivered last September and asserted that night-time flights at the airport should be dramatically cut from their current levels.

The flight paths initially approved for the north runway when it secured planning in 2007 would have seen aircraft fly in a straight line following takeoff. However, when the runway opened in August 2022, flights were instead turned at takeoff and diverted across a number of north Dublin and Meath communities, leading to an outcry among residents.

The inspector’s report described the decision to alter the flight paths as an “IAA requirement”. It also said that Daa had asserted “repeatedly” that the decision related to a “safety issue” and that “no submissions” had been received from the IAA regarding the requirement.

Responding to that decision, the IAA’s submission said that ABP’s inspector had been under a “misconception” regarding the authority’s supposed role in requiring a diversion in the takeoff routes.

“The IAA did not specify any such requirement,” the submission said, adding that flight paths “are the responsibility of the aerodrome operator”.

A spokesperson for Daa said that new flight plans had been implemented per “a safety issue as set down by ICAO (the International Civil Aviation Authority)” which sees flights off parallel runways required to turn at takeoff for safety reasons.

That ICAO requirement - which dates from 2004 - applies to runways in which air traffic operates independently, or without regard to, the activity on a parallel runway.

In its submission, the IAA noted that there are “different possible options” regarding the flight paths in order to comply with safety requirements, such as operating the north runway in a ‘dependent’ fashion, that is where air traffic can only take off or land on one parallel runway at any one time.