Europe’s Top Court Just Handed Dublin Airport’s Passenger Cap a Win

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that Dublin Airport’s annual passenger cap, set at 32 million, can be taken into account when slots are allocated. The judgment follows an Advocate General’s opinion from February and ends months of uncertainty over whether a planning limit could shape which airlines get to fly.

In plain terms, the court said legal limits written into an airport’s development consent can form part of an objective assessment of its capacity. It also found that temporary slots do not amount to a property right, which means an airline that has used a slot before is not guaranteed to keep it.

The ruling lands in a heated debate. Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary wants the cap abolished and argues the airport’s two runways could handle around 60 million passengers a year. Meanwhile a bill allowing the transport minister to lift the cap was signed into law in July, and operator daa has submitted a €2 billion infrastructure application to expand capacity.

For travelers the effect is not immediate, since the cap itself has not changed. But it clarifies the rules that will decide how many seats, and on which carriers, Dublin can offer as demand for transatlantic and European flights keeps growing.

Sources: TravelExtra, Irish Examiner