The DAA’s deputy CEO, Nick Cole, told the Oireachtas Transport Committee that the semi-state company continues to plan for about 50 million passengers using the airport by the late 2030s or early 2040s.
He was appearing before the committee as it scrutinises a bill designed to remove the passenger cap at Dublin Airport. That cap limits total passenger numbers at the airport’s two terminals to 32 million a year.
Vincent Harrison, the chief commercial and development officer at the DAA, said that the removal of the cap needs to be underpinned by the introduction of additional infrastructure at Dublin Airport. The DAA currently has a planning application with Fingal County Council that entails a number of major infrastructure projects.
“We will undoubtedly, due to the slow passage of the planning application, see constrained demand for a number of years,” he told the committee. “We would see that being in the region of very low single digits.
“We expect the passenger throughput – until we see significant infrastructure and pier development advanced – to be constrained to 1pc or 2pc per annum growth,” he added, noting that Dublin Airport is likely to be handling about 40 million passengers by 2030. Last year, it handled a record 36.4 million.
He said that’s because Dublin Airport would not have the infrastructure to facilitate airlines to base more aircraft at the gateway, for example.
Mr Cole said the DAA’s role is to provide Ireland with the best connectivity to the rest of the world that it possibly can.
“If you were to look at, let’s say 50 million passengers, we’re certainly looking in the region of the late 2030s to the early 2040s,” he told the committee. “What we don’t want to do is just-in-time planning. We want to focus on the future and make sure that we’ve got a really long-term plan to what we’re looking to do.”
Declan Fitzpatrick, the chief executive of the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), stressed that the cap at Dublin Airport is only a cap on passenger throughput in respect of Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.
He said the planning condition that limits passenger numbers at those two terminals was introduced at time when it was envisaged there would be a third terminal built at Dublin Airport. The cap was designed to ensure sufficient passenger traffic would move to that third terminal, while taking into account the road circulation in and around the airport that would feed all three terminals.
On Wednesday, the committee will hear from Ryanair group chief executive Michael O’Leary as well as Chris Sununu, the chief executive of Airlines for America, a lobby group of major US carriers that is pushing for the passenger cap to be removed.
Willie Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and representatives from Airports Council International Europe will also be attending Wednesday’s committee hearing.
The Government is hoping that the bill to have the passenger cap at Dublin Airport removed will be enacted as early as this summer.
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