The chief executive of Ryanair has said a meeting he had with the junior minister at the Department of Transport this morning on the issue of the passenger cap at Dublin Airport was not productive.
Michael O'Leary was speaking follow an hour-long conversation with James Lawless at Ryanair’s headquarters in Swords.
Mr O’Leary said if Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan were to sign a letter to the aviation regulator, the IAA, instructing it to issue additional slots at the airport while airport operator daa awaits a decision from planners on increasing the passenger cap at the airport, it would solve the problem.
The CEO said this is possible under the Aviation Regulation Act 2001.
"He can do that while…the daa apply for the cap to be scrapped," Mr O’Leary told reporters after the meeting.
"It's not an interference in the planning process, but it does reflect national aviation policy, which is to grow traffic and connectivity at Dublin Airport."
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Mr O’Leary said the minister committed to take away that suggested letter and study it over the next couple of days.
"And then we believe he will do nothing about it, just as Eamon Ryan has done nothing about it," Mr O’Leary added.
Speaking to the media following the meeting, Mr Lawless said he would look at the suggestion, but is not convinced that it is "a runner".
"But that's the kind of thing that I'm trying to encourage. I'm looking to stakeholders to make suggestions," Mr Lawless said.
He said he has plans to meet other airlines, including Aer Lingus, as well as airport operator daa and others in relation to the issue.
A condition of the 2007 planning permission for the second terminal at Dublin Airport means passenger numbers are capped at 32 million a year.
However, the cap has now been reached and daa has warned that it will likely be exceeded this year by up to 1m.
Daa has applied for permission to build infrastructure that would enable the cap to rise to 40m a year.
However, a decision on that is expected to take years and in the meantime, airlines are facing restrictions on the number of additional aircraft slots they can have at the airport.
Mr Lawless said another possible interim solution to the problem would be to push some traffic to regional airports, away from Dublin.
"We have no cap on Shannon, we have no cap on Cork, we have no cap on Knock, we have no cap on other regional airports," he said.
"I've suggested to Ryanair and I will suggest to the other airlines that they should explore, in the hiatus while Dublin Airport is at or reaching the cap, that they should explore increasing connections to the other airports."
He added that there is no better placed airline than Ryanair to market outlying airports as a destination.
"I've flown to Paris Beauvais with Ryanair. I've flown to Venice Treviso with Ryanair. Why can't I fly to Dublin/Shannon with Ryanair?" the minister claimed.
Mr Lawless also suggested that other one-off flights, including to Lapland at Christmas, could be operated out of regional airports like Shannon.
However Mr O’Leary dismissed that possibility.
"60% of the traffic is inbound and it doesn't want to go to Shannon and Cork, it wants to go to Dublin," he said.
"The Lapland Christmas (flights), the kids don't want to go to Cork and Shannon they want to go to Lapland."
"The Christmas extras coming in from London and from the UK don't want to go to Cork and Shannon to go home to Dublin or to places around Dublin. They want to go to Dublin."
"We think we'll be able to divert maybe 50,000 of those up to Belfast, but I think the vast majority of Irish people coming home this Christmas will be travelling on ferries.
"We're going back to the future again. You're all back on the boats because Eamon Ryan won't issue a letter to the IAA."
Mr O’Leary said the cap at Dublin Airport is already about to be breached and traffic around the airport hasn’t collapsed.
He added that if the restrictions remain in place, it may even make it difficult for the Government jet to take off and land.
"So maybe the Government ministers will all have to stay at home this winter, to have to comply with the 32m passenger cap," he claimed.
