Revenue at the group rose 9pc to €1.1bn in 2024, newly-published results show. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) – a key measure of a company’s financial performance – surged 20pc to €395m.
Profit after tax, and before exceptional items, was 35pc higher, at €236m. It’s also paying a €68m dividend to the Exchequer.
The DAA, which controls Cork Airport as well as Dublin’s, also operates international businesses involved in the duty-free sector and management of terminals.
Dublin Airport is currently subject to an annual cap of 32 million passengers, which was introduced in 2007 as a condition attached to the granting of planning permission for Terminal 2. While the Government has promised to have the cap removed, it has not made clear how this will be achieved and there is no sign that such a move is imminent.
DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs said that international connectivity has never been more important due to the threat that tariffs and slow planning decisions pose to Irish tourism and exports.
“Though the courts have put a temporary pause on the passenger cap, continuing uncertainty has resulted in Ireland being the only top-20 European country whose air travel showed a decline in scheduled capacity in Q1 2025,” he said. “While we are encouraged that the Government is saying they are determined to act with urgency, the risk to jobs, tourism and the economy remain while we cannot get on and build.”
In a letter to Fingal County Council last month, the DAA insisted that a request for further information regarding an application to raise the annual passenger cap at Dublin Airport to 36 million is “unlawful”. The DAA threatened legal action against the council if it continues to seek the additional information.
The specific information sought by Fingal County Council was for an environmental impact assessment regarding its plan, and details about the planned expansion of a ground transportation centre.
The threat of legal action drew a strong rebuke from Fingal. “The council views the approach taken in that letter as inappropriate and outside the bounds of the statutory planning process,” it said this week. “Efforts to influence or alter the request for information through non-statutory correspondence raises serious concerns about procedural integrity and risks undermining confidence in the fairness of the process – particularly for third parties and members of the public who engaged with the application in good faith and in accordance with planning law.”
The DAA’s application does not involve any construction elements, and the authority insists it is an operational application only. It has filed a separate planning application with Fingal County Council that involves a number of significant construction projects and which seeks to raise the passenger cap to 40 million a year.
source