High Court puts pause on Dublin Airport passenger cap for summer 2025

Aer Lingus, Ryanair and a consortium of American carriers brought an urgent application over the Irish Aviation Authority’s (IAA’s) decision to limit passenger numbers to 25.2 million between late March and October.

They claim they will suffer significant harm as the seat cap will see them deprived of some of their “use them or lose them” take-off and landing slots.

The ruling comes just days before a slot coordinator allocates the airport’s available summer slots to airlines. The ACL’s (Airports Coordination Ltd’s) slot distribution would have been confined by the IAA’s passenger cap.

Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell said the airlines would suffer “immediate serious consequences” if he refused to pause the operation and implementation of the IAA decision.

The potential consequences of a potential breach of the planning conditions– which were highlighted by the airport’s operator, DAA– do not outweigh the “highly probable and very serious adverse consequences”