Aer Lingus has said that daa's application to increase Dublin airport’s 32m annual passenger cap to 40m could have and should have been made much earlier than last December.
In its submission concerning daa’s bid to increase the current limit as part of its Infrastructure Application (IA), Aer Lingus has called on Fingal Co Council to grant an immediate interim increase in the passenger cap at Dublin Airport pending a decision on the application.
In the submission, Director of Corporate Affairs at Aer Lingus, Niall Timlin, stated that "there is significant national economic risk from the existing 32m per annum passenger cap" and the current passenger cap "is no longer fit for purpose".
Mr Timlin also pointed out that it is concerning that Dublin Airport "significantly delayed" making its Infrastructure Application to raise the passenger cap to 40m until December 2023 despite initial approval and funding in the 2019 regulatory decision by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).
"Dublin Airport has been fully aware for many years of the growth plans of airlines based at Dublin," he stated.
"This specific planning application could have and should have been made and dealt with much earlier."
Mr Timlin added that Aer Lingus - along with franchise partner Emerald Airlines - last year carried 12m passengers through Dublin and the majority of its 5,000 employees are based in Dublin.
He said that the airline supports the Infrastructure application.
In his own submission, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman (Green) told Fingal Co Council that if the plans go ahead, residents living in Dublin 15, particularly in Hollystown, Tyrellstown and parts of Ongar, "will suffer an increase in the amount of noise and night time noise that they are having to deal with".
"Currently residents living in these areas are outside the remit of the Noise Insulation Scheme offered by the DAA," the Dublin West TD said.
"The area covered by the Noise Insulation Scheme should be extended to cover residents in Dublin 15 who are negatively impacted by noise from the airport, particularly the night time noise."
In a separate submission, Enterprise Ireland has told the Council that "the maintenance of the existing cap of 32 million passengers per year has the potential to hinder Ireland's economic growth and global ambitions as an export-focused country".
IBEC has told the Council that passenger numbers are expecting to reach 40m at Dublin by 2030 and "Dublin Airport will be unable to accommodate this passenger demand unless Fingal County Council increases the current cap".
Keenan Stack of IBEC has stated that "should the passenger cap be adjusted to reflect population growth alone, this would lead to a new cap of 37 million passengers per annum – as the 2010 cap of 32 million implemented upon completion of Terminal 2 is now entirely outdated".
In response to Aer Lingus's claim that daa should have lodged the planning application much earlier, a spokesman for daa stated, "hindsight is a wonderful thing. daa’s plans to address this capacity restriction have been delayed twice."
"Firstly, by the fallout from the 2008 global financial crisis and the resultant recession. Secondly, by the catastrophic impact on global aviation and traffic at Dublin Airport resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic."
"We could have potentially lodged the application sooner, but the Infrastructure Application and the North Runway Relevant Action Application could not run in parallel for a number of technical and planning related reasons which were outside daa’s control."
The spokesman also said that, "the North Runway Relevant Action application was severely delayed due to several factors, including the setting up of the Aircraft Noise Competent Authority and finalising new legislation involving its governance and the management of airport noise."
He said: "This took almost 3 years, far longer than anyone, including the planning authorities or daa, could have reasonably expected.
"In the interim, daa focussed on progressing the construction of North Runway within the planning window and on building it on time and within budget, while also seeking to address two onerous conditions attached to its grant of planning via the North Runway Relevant Action Application."
"We welcome Aer Lingus' submission in support of our IA, recognising the critical importance of Dublin Airport as a strategic national asset and a key driver of the Irish economy."
