Who actually wants the Dublin Airport passenger cap abolished?

Idbatterim · 13-10-2025 04:35PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123902421#Comment_123902421

I'm not blakimg the greens. I support the green agenda in general... Ryan is a waster and if you were MOL, who's case would you be getting onto, to address the cap? Nobody wants to take responsibility, what a surprise...

thenuisance · 13-10-2025 09:17PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123900709#Comment_123900709

I think the cap should stay where it is because I don't think either the airport infrastructure (including it's transport links and parking) or the city's tourist infrastructure is capable of taking an extra 8 million passenger journeys (4 million passengers) on top of the numbvers that they currently struggle to deal with. I'm interested in what the expected breakdown of the passengers in terms of their type (business, tourist, Irish residents) and ultimate destination (geographical and accomodation) - if I thought that these figures had been estimated and planning put in place to address the infrastructural requirements I might change my opinion.

How many passengers were passing through the airport in 2007 when the current cap was put in place?

Podge_irl · 13-10-2025 09:41PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123902142#Comment_123902142

Glasgow Prestwick handles 500k passengers a year, the govt had to nationalise it because it was losing so much money and the only airline to fly out of it is Ryanair. All this despite the govt trying to prop it up by demanding all transatlantic flights had to use it (sound familiar?). It is a gigantic waste of space and money. In fact having two competing airports in Glasgow just meant that the actually useful Glasgow airport has never been properly invested in - but a big part of the problem is its location not allowing for expansion. Thanks to phenomenal foresight for the time, Dublin Airport does not have that problem.

Paris Beauvais is similarly just a pointless Ryanair airport. Why in the name of god we would want to build one of those is beyond me.

Mellor · 13-10-2025 10:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123901995#Comment_123901995

That may be true, but despite that, Cork is experiencing growth, not Shannon.
If Shannon was the airport of choice over Cork, or Dublin, there would be a demand. But there isn't.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123902265#Comment_123902265

It does seem somewhere mis-planned to have two internationals so close to each other. With active regionals pretty close also.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123902142#Comment_123902142

of course business goes for the most profitable (ie busiest) routes, thats not a revelation to anyone.
but thats a flawed model from the perspective of building our society.
if you just follow that model like a zombie we would end up with everything and everyone in one small impossibly congested core

That's not how a business based on supply and demand works, or competition for that matter.

I've no idea why you think busiest = most profitable. If everyone was flying solely out of Dublin, it would be hugely profitable for a single operator to operator out of Cork (or where ever). They'd have sole access to demand in the region.
Claiming that following leads to a zombie filled core is clearly disproven by looking at any other countries air-infrastructure.

Jinglejangle69 · 13-10-2025 11:41PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123902366#Comment_123902366

Where do you live?

Mellor · 14-10-2025 01:55AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123903319#Comment_123903319

There' no proposal that includes the another 8m people across the current infrastructure.

The two parts of the proposal are;

increased limit for current infrastructure to 36m, (supported by current passenger numbers, and an IATA assessment of capacity), and
Increase the limit to 40m via the massive upgrade of infrastructure, including external structure such as transport, services, etc

Montage of Feck · 14-10-2025 06:37AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123903532#Comment_123903532

Well obviously not from Fingal!

Bass Reeves · 14-10-2025 07:43AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123903379#Comment_123903379

There is a significant difference between having a second infrastructural airport in Ireland population 5 million plus and 100 plus miles from Dublin airport and Glasgow population less than 700k.

London population 9 million has 10 plus airports admittedly only about 5 are major airports. Beauvais is only one of about 6-8 smaller airports in Paris Orly and Charles de Gaule do most of the flights.

What you are describing is apples and oranges.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123903500#Comment_123903500

Cork is experiencing growth because it's has a larger population. However long-term Shannon is more accessible.

Yes business goes for the most profitable option. However what is most profitable for business is not necessarily the best infrastructural option for the country. Yes MOL and Ryanair will huff and puff and we will not see as many flights as would access Dublin but we would see substantial growth over 5+ years.

The Ideal senario is fast track the M20 and let business (as in air traffic) decide which it wants to use. But they will use one of them

Red Silurian · 14-10-2025 09:54AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123903500#Comment_123903500

If all those airports serve different locations it's not as big an issue. Airports watching Dublin's success on routes and saying "I'll have some of that" is lazy and results in airlines regularly pulling out of such routes

Take the bay area in California for example, they have 3 international airports less than 40 minutes from each other, and a 4th one about 80 miles away from SFO. You only hear about one, SFO, because the other 3 are catering to different routes and different markets. Why not try and get a Shannon-South Africa or Cork to Argentina. Link either of the 2 airports with Japan or find a small airport in Wisconsin or Oregon that an airline could do a deal with and avail of the Shannon pre-clearance

Podge_irl · 14-10-2025 10:06AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123903724#Comment_123903724

I'm aware, I was responding to someone suggesting another Dublin airport - which is a truly awful idea.

Tenzor07 · 14-10-2025 10:12AM

I can see it now "Dublin-Baldonnel International airport" let Ryanair run all their flights out of there and pay for the Luas extension and N7 Bus corridor upgrades, into the city centre in about 20 mins.

the_amazing_raisin · 14-10-2025 10:38AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904100#Comment_123904100

I'd assumed Weston would be the obvious choice but Baldonnell probably would be a better option

It's worth saying that you don't actually need a lot of flights per day to have an impact. 10 flights a day with an average of 200 passengers per flight becomes 4000 passengers per day since each flight is an arrival and departure

That's 1.4 million passengers per year. Doing that for 4 airports in Ireland (say Cork, Shannon, Waterford and Knock) would divert 5.6 million passengers away from Dublin Airport

Even if the routes were seasonal you'd probably still be looking at 3 million passengers. I'm sure there's sufficient demand and capacity to service those additional flights if they were offered

For comparison Dublin Airport handled an average of 760 flights per day in September

Again, I'd just like to be clear that I'm not against the cap being lifted or even removed entirely once there is a plan in place to handle the additional traffic. I think removing it now fixes one problem for DAA and causes 5 more problems for everyone else

I believe there's a whole range of options which should be considered and moving traffic away from Dublin (either by incentive or requirement) is one that should be high on the list

Tenzor07 · 14-10-2025 10:43AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904173#Comment_123904173

Lift the cap now and sort out the access after, otherwise we'll still be here in 2050 talking about the exact same thing…

the_amazing_raisin · 14-10-2025 11:08AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904186#Comment_123904186

Well maybe DAA should update their planning application that's been sitting there for something like 3 years after FCC requested more information

No issues with the cap being increased today if there's an actual plan in place. It isn't like its being enforced anyway so what's the use

I just don't think it'll be of the massive benefit to anyone except DAA and the airlines. I suppose the hotel owners would be happy since they can jack up the price of the few available rooms as well

Tenzor07 · 14-10-2025 11:31AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904243#Comment_123904243

I reckon we can just add these things to the lists of investments in the country which haven't been made:

Dublin Metro: 2001
M50 by-pass link road: https://www.rte.ie/archives/2020/0624/1149330-eastern-bypass-for-dublin/
Luas to Swords: 1990
Rail link to airport: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1974-12-03/32/
removal of airport passenger cap: 2007

Seth Brundle · 14-10-2025 11:43AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904288#Comment_123904288

The "M50 by-pass link road" will never be built and this has nothing to do with budget or other usual infrastructure project delays.
This project was abandoned back in 2021 for more sustainable alternatives.

Tenzor07 · 14-10-2025 11:49AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904317#Comment_123904317

Those "sustainable alternatives" have yet to materialise and the M50 is still choked up every day…

faceman · 14-10-2025 12:14PM

It bonkers that there are people who seem to think that the cap is necessary.

The cap relates to road traffic around the airport. It has nothing to do with the environment or anything else. Expecting it to stay in place for reasons other than its original purpose undermines the planning process.
We live on a poxy island. We have no rail connectivity anywhere internationally beyond Northern Ireland. You cant even get a train to Donegal let alone London.
Airports are not just about tourism. We live in a diverse society and people have family and friends in other countries.
International investment requires aviation links.
The passenger cap impacts consumer choice and stifles competition. It'sprobably in breach of EU consumer law. I can site plenty of examples where its cheaper to get a flight to the UK as a stopover then fly to another EU destination due to the lack of competition on direct routes from Ireland. For anyone flying the environmental flag, this is worse for the planet.
Ireland is already missing out on aviation investment because of the cap.

We also need to stop pandering to clowns who complain about the airport who bought their house in its vicinity.

BlueSkyDreams · 14-10-2025 12:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904173#Comment_123904173

By diverting flights away from Dublin you would increase traffic, as most visitors would then need to travel on to Dublin.

We seem to be forgetting that most people flying into Dublin, visit Dublin.

If i fly into Dublin to watch a gig or visit friends or watch the soccer at the Aviva stadium and my only choice is to fly to Shannon, I'm not going to bother coming to Ireland at all.

The airlines know this and thats why its Dublin or nothing for their routes.

cdeb · 14-10-2025 12:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904391#Comment_123904391

While you may be right that the cap relates to road traffic, it absolutely relates to the environment too (and other things of course)

The problem with your arguments against the sustainability aspect (foreigners need to get home, we live on an island, etc) is that it's a bit like being on a hike, coming across a bear, and then saying "Well I need to get home so how else am I going to do it other than going this route and the bear can work things out for itself." It's a view with no real sense of proportion or understanding of what the bear is going to do to you.

Lillyfae · 14-10-2025 12:34PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904417#Comment_123904417

I don't really believe that. There are many mncs based outside of Dublin, look at Pharma and Biotech in Cork for example. Aer Lingus came up with some rubbish that they were scrapping the Cork AMS route due to demands elsewhere but it was snapped up by KLM and now the fares are 2/3 times the price.

Tourists a lot of the time land in Dublin and go straight to the Ring of Kerry or the Cliffs of Moher, or want to do the Wild Atlantic Way. No tourist is coming in to go to a match in the Aviva or watch Garth Brooks at Croker. They're only going to Dublin because there's no other option. If they had the option of flying to another city in Ireland I'm almost certain they would be just as happy to have a weekend in Cork, Limerick or Galway. Dublin in itself isn't the attraction for tourists, it's Ireland.

faceman · 14-10-2025 12:37PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904445#Comment_123904445

That analogy makes no sense.

CoffeeImpala · 14-10-2025 12:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904445#Comment_123904445

Bears often run away when you meet them on a hike.

Are you saying the environment issues are just going to disappear of their own accord?

BlueSkyDreams · 14-10-2025 12:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904459#Comment_123904459

Plenty of tourists only visit Dublin.

In 2017, 9 million tourists came to Ireland.

6 million spent some or all of their time in Dublin.

The longer stay tourists may well visit other parts of the country in the summer, but most UK/europe visitors come for a city break to Dublin and thats all they visit.

Dublin tourism is 12 months a year and not seasonal like it is in the rest of the country.

Tenzor07 · 14-10-2025 12:53PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904445#Comment_123904445

If Dublin airport cap stops the bear then the bear will just migrate to Manchester airport…

cdeb · 14-10-2025 12:57PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904513#Comment_123904513

Fine - wild, hungry bear. Or something that's going to cause more damage to you than you to it.

If semantics is the retort you have then I think it's clear the point has been made.

Paddigol · 14-10-2025 01:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123900400#Comment_123900400

Dublin is an island??

Lillyfae · 14-10-2025 01:16PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904515#Comment_123904515

I agree that plenty of tourists only visit Dublin but not because they don't want to visit the rest of the country but because it's the only place accessible to them. There are hardly any flights to Cork or Shannon or Knock or Farranfore and getting out of Dublin is both time and cost prohibitive- Ireland is a large country with poor public transport.

How is Dublin 12 months a year and the rest of the country "seasonal"???

csirl · 14-10-2025 01:16PM

Some people seem to be living in the old days when most airlines were government owned flag carriers who could be told what routes/airports to serve.

If there was customer demand to move routes from Dublin to Shannon or Cork, it would have already happened naturally.

astrofool · 14-10-2025 01:18PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904243#Comment_123904243

FCC have made the whole process political and broken, I'm sure the DAA has its own share of the blame, but blocking the destruction of the unused ramps was very spiteful of them.

The cap is coming under the remit of the minister now and I'm sure the gobsh*tes in FCC will be howling about their self-inflicted stupidity.

Who actually wants the Dublin Airport passenger cap abolished?

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