Aer Lingus is considering legal action against a recent ruling by planners limiting night flights at Dublin Airport to 35,672 a year, says chief executive Lynne Embleton.
The airline earned operating profits of €135 million in the three months to the end of June, more than 43 per cent in advance of the same period last year.
Speaking after Aer Lingus published its results on Friday, Ms Embleton warned that last month’s ruling by An Coimisiún Pleanála restricting flights between 11pm and 7am to 35,672 a year to limit noise would hit growth and jobs.
Ms Embleton confirmed that Aer Lingus was considering asking the courts to overturn the ruling.
“The way in which most airports deal with this is through a noise quota system,” she said, dubbing the flight limit “completely unnecessary”.
The commission’s ruling also provides for a noise quota system, which takes account of how much noise each type of aircraft makes. However, planners decided that this was not enough on its own to deal with locals’ concerns over noise.
In a statement, Ms Embleton said the Government should remove both the night-flight restriction and a 32 million a year limit on passengers at Dublin Airport.
She warned that the night flight restriction could “impede both future growth of north Atlantic traffic and the basing of additional short-haul aircraft in Dublin”.
Michael O’Leary, Ryanair chief executive, recently confirmed that the airline was also considering a challenge to the commission’s ruling.
Aer Lingus began flights from Dublin to Nashville and Indianapolis in the US this summer, along with an expanded European network. It also announced its first direct flight to Cancún in Mexico, starting in January.
Ms Embleton said it was weighing adding further US services next year.
The airline described its financial results as a “significant improvement” on the corresponding quarter last year, when it earned operating profits of €91 million. Aer Lingus operating profit for the first half of the year was €80 million compared with €9 million last year.
The build up to industrial action by pilots, which ran from mid-June to early July 2024, affected bookings last year.
Ms Embleton pointed out on Friday that excluding the dispute’s impact, first-half profits were €20 million ahead, showing there was “real momentum” in the business.
Luis Gallego, chief executive of Aer Lingus parent International Airlines Group (IAG), confirmed that the Irish carrier would receive three Airbus A321 extra long range (XLR) aircraft later this year.
It has taken delivery of three of the jets since late 2024. The XLR cuts the cost of flying over longer distances, allowing Aer Lingus to fly more transatlantic services.
Revenue at IAG grew 8 per cent to €15.9 billion, reflecting “strong demand”, the group said. Operating profit before exceptional items in the first half increased by 43.5 per cent to €1.9 billion, driven by revenue, fuel and foreign exchange benefits.
Aer Lingus said its performance was largely down to by capacity growth, as well as a “robust revenue performance”.
It also benefited from favourable fuel pricing. There was 10.9 per cent growth in overall capacity and a 4.3 per cent increase in passenger numbers compared with last year.
Ms Embleton said the airline’s performance built upon momentum from the previous two quarters.
[ Airlines claim new Dublin Airport night flight limit will hit growthOpens in new window ]
Airlines have branded last month’s planning commission ruling limiting Dublin night flights to 35,672 a year a “second passenger cap”.
An Coimisiún Pleanála extended the hours during which the airport can operate from its new “north” runway to between 6am and midnight. Previously, there had been a ban on landing or taking off from that runway at 11pm-7am.
The older south runway will remain open through the night, while the north runway will close between midnight and 6am.
