Dublin Airport will bid for a third time to end the row over its 32 million-a-year passenger limit when it again asks planners on Thursday for an increase to 36 million.
Fingal County Council last month ruled invalid an application to lift the limit to 36 million, lodged by State-owned airport operator DAA in December.
The company intends to file a second application on Thursday with Fingal for a 4 million boost to the controversial existing passenger cap, DAA confirmed.
That application will be the third time the company has sought an increase to the limit. In December 2023, the airport operator asked the council to lift the cap to 40 million when it had also applied for permission to extend airport facilities.
DAA’s bid for a 4 million increase is a short-term measure to allow Dublin Airport to cater for growing demand while planners consider the more complex 40 million application.
Fingal’s announcement last month that the first interim planning application was invalid sparked a row with DAA, which had earlier said the council had validated the application. The company later produced correspondence which it said confirmed this, but the council maintained this was not the case.
DAA said on Wednesday that it hoped the new application could “move swiftly through the planning process and provide a short-term solution to the terminals cap impasse”.
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The company later confirmed it had taken into account feedback from Fingal on December’s application.
“We look forward to engaging further with Fingal County Council as the application progresses,” DAA said in a statement.
It added that ending the deadlock was critical to the Irish economy, something the new Government recognises.
A High Court ruling referring challenges by Aer Lingus, Ryanair and several North American airlines to the European courts suspended the cap last December. However, DAA and the airlines all argue that either the courts or planners should finally resolve the situation.
An Bord Pleanála imposed the existing limit in 2007 as a condition of giving Dublin Airport permission to build its second terminal. The ruling was meant to ease fears of traffic jams on the motorway leading to and from the airport, which has since been upgraded.
Meanwhile, DAA said on Wednesday that 2.1 million passengers used Dublin Airport in January, unchanged on the same month last year.
Cork remained the State’s fastest-growing airport, with passenger numbers increasing 7 per cent to 196,024.
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