Ryanair has arranged to fly the Leinster Rugby team to its European fixtures this season from Belfast instead of Dublin Airport, the airline said on Monday, amid an ongoing farrago over the annual passenger cap at the aviation hub.
The airline, which recently wrote to Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan urging him to direct the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to issue additional slots to avoid a winter crisis, said the former Green Party leader had “failed” to act, forcing the team to arrange travel from Belfast to away fixtures in the European Rugby Champions Cup and the United Rugby Championship this season.
The affected fixtures include Leinster’s tie with La Rochelle in January as well as away matches in Bristol and Cardiff.
A Leinster Rugby spokesman declined to comment.
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With record numbers travelling through the airport this year, Dublin Airport operator DAA expects to surpass the annual 32 million passenger-a-year upper limit this year by around one million passengers.
This would put it in breach of the 2007 An Bord Pleanála decision, which put a cap on passenger numbers at the airport as a condition of the planning permission for the new north runway.
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DAA has applied to Fingal County Council to have the cap raised to 40 million but a final decision is not expected for some time.
Against this backdrop in May, the IAA for the first time introduced a 14.4 million seat capacity limit at the airport for the winter 2024 season, from October 2024 to March 2025. It means additional winter slots – typically granted to airlines for the period around Christmas due to the demand for travel during the season – will not be available this year.
But in a statement on Monday, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said the minister has powers under the Aviation Act 2001 to issue a “letter of direction” to the IAA “to allow these extra slots”. The airline drafted the letter of direction and submitted it to the department earlier this month.
“It is unacceptable that Ireland’s Transport Minister won’t exercise his legal power to approve these extra flights,” Mr O’Leary said. “If he won’t act (as he has failed to for four years now), we then call on Green Tourism Minister Catherine Martin to take action.”
James Lawless, Minister of State in the Department of Transport, met Mr O’Leary at Ryanair’s Dublin headquarters a fortnight ago, asking for suggestions to help avert a potential winter crisis at Dublin Airport. The Fianna Fáil TD has told airlines that they should diversify their Irish routes away from Dublin Airport to regional hubs like Shannon and Cork Airport as a solution to the crisis.
Speaking at Ryanair’s annual general meeting earlier, Mr O’Leary said the Minister’s suggestion is not viable. “The Christmas extras coming in from London and from the UK don’t want to go to Cork and Shannon to go home to Dublin or to places around Dublin,” Mr O’Leary said. “They want to go to Dublin.”
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