Dublin Airport’s 32 million a-year passenger limit has become an “international joke” says global air travel industry chief, Irishman Willie Walsh.
Irish and US airlines are taking legal action over a 32 million a-year passenger cap imposed on the country’s biggest airport by planners in 2007 to control road traffic in the area.
Mr Walsh, chief executive of global body, the International Air Transport Association, declared on Wednesday that his industry has branded the limit a joke.
“International airlines want to serve the Irish market, they want to serve Dublin, and they can’t because of this restriction,” he told the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA).
Many of the airlines seeking space at Dublin Airport do not want to go to Cork or Shannon as they regard the capital as the entry point to the Irish market, he added.
He warned that Irish people would face higher fares as a consequence of the cap, as demand for air travel exceeded the airport’s capacity as a result of the “artificial” constraint.
Mr Walsh, previously creator and chief executive of International Airlines Group, which owns Irish carrier Aer Lingus, along with British Airways and Spain’s Iberia, argued that the Government should step into the row.
He suggested that any court solution might only be temporary and it would require Government action to permanently resolve the issue. The airline industry boss suggested that it could be the “next government” that tackles the problem.
The coalition has so far refused to intervene on the grounds that it cannot interfere in the planning process. Dublin Airport’s operator, DAA, last year applied to Fingal County Council, the local planning authority, to have the cap increased to 40 million.
Mr Walsh’s remarks came a day after Aer Lingus, Ryanair and US-based Airlines for America confirmed a challenge to the Irish Aviation Authority’s decision to limit take off and landing slot allocations at Dublin Airport to keep carriers to a maximum of 25.2 million next summer as a consequence of the cap.
He acknowledged that air fares have been rising over the last two years but pointed out that the increases lagged rocketing consumer prices.
This was despite the fact that airline costs rose at a similar rate to inflation as they were closely tied to oil prices which increased sharply, Mr Walsh said.
In a wide-ranging discussion at the IIEA, Mr Walsh observed that air travel’s impact on the climate was a key issue for every chief executive in the industry.
He argued that the EU and European governments needed to give similar incentives to sustainable aviation fuel production as those given to boost wind and solar power generation, allowing airlines to step up their use of green alternatives to kerosene.
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