The Chief Executive of Aer Lingus has said the airline wants to see new stands and terminal capacity provided at Dublin Airport quickly so it can continue to develop its hub there.
Lynne Embleton said Aer Lingus has been pleased to see the opening of the second runway at the airport.
But she said Aer Lingus now wants to see new stands built quickly around the terminals that already exist, rather than thinking about a third terminal.
She added that airport operator daa does have capital plans in place for such development.
Following last summer's capacity problems in Dublin Airport, the airline said today that so far it has been encouraged by the good start to this season, with both the Easter period and the recent May bank holiday having gone smoothly.
But a spokesperson added that it is essential that this strong start is maintained consistently throughout the summer including the peak period of July and early August.
The chief executive of Aer Lingus’ parent company IAG, Luis Gallego, said there are likely to be challenges facing airlines this summer, including further French air traffic control strikes.
"But Aer Lingus teams have been preparing for the peak," he said.
"They are implementing a summer readiness plan, including employing 400 more people now than in 2019 and introducing operational improvements to increase on quality and levels of customer service."
Earlier IAG said it had lifted its 2023 profit forecasts on strong travel demand for the summer and after its first-quarter performance beat expectations, helped by a lower fuel price.
The group said that it now expects annual profit to come in above the top end of a €1.8 billion to €2.3 billion range given in February, a level which at the top end represents a jump of as much as 90% on last year's result.
It called the outlook for the summer "encouraging" and said capacity in its key North Atlantic and Latin American markets was now back at pre-pandemic levels, with demand from leisure travellers driving bookings.
For the three months to the end of March, which is usually loss-making as fewer people travel, IAG posted an operating profit before exception items of €9m, well above the €179m loss expected by analysts.
IAG said that Aer Lingus is more seasonally exposed than the other airlines, but is seeing good demand to European leisure destinations as well as to the US and the Caribbean.
But it added that shorthaul business is seeing some softness, as are technology industry-related routes.
IAG also owns the Iberia,Vueling and Level airlines.
Luis Gallego said the company has delivered a strong first quarter financial performance as group airlines recovered capacity to close to pre-pandemic levels.
"Iberia contributed a record first-quarter profit and all our airlines performed above expectations, benefiting from robust demand and a lower fuel price in the quarter," he said.
"We are seeing healthy forward bookings, with leisure demand particularly strong, while business travel continues to recover more slowly," he added.
Lynne Embleton said like other airlines, Aer Lingus has had to increase its ticket prices due to higher costs.
"We want to fill out aircraft, so it is really important that our prices are competitive," she said.
"That in turn means the controllable costs have to be competitive too."
Regarding reports that pilots at Emerald Airlines, which operates the Aer Lingus Regional service, may soon vote for industrial action over pay and conditions, Ms Embleton said Aer Lingus recognises and has constructive dialogue with all its unions.
She added that issues at Emerald are a matter for its management.
Ms Embleton also said Aer Lingus has no imminent plans to increase capacity at Shannon, but the airline is happy with how its operations there are going.
