Ryanair embraces temporary Dublin passenger cap suspension

January 24, 2025

Ryanair is to make the most of the temporary suspension to Dublin airport’s 32 million annual passenger cap, augmenting its summer 2025 services while simultaneously calling on Ireland’s new Transport Minister to abolish the cap completely.
With the low-cost-carrier having long campaigned for the cap to be lifted, Ryanair’s latest legal challenge has now been referred to the EU Court of Justice, with temporary concessions enacted pending a final decision. In late November 2024, the High Court had indicated that the decision was likely to be passed up the chain, something Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) CEO Kenny Jacobs welcomed as “encouraging”.
Although Ryanair remains confident the cap will be lifted long-term, it added that “the only long-term solution is for the Dublin passenger cap to be scrapped completely so it can properly utilise its two runways and two terminals which can cater for up to 60 million passengers per annum”.
With a traffic cap Ryanair has slammed as “artificial” now lifted for the summer 2025 season, this – “coupled with daa’s reduced airport charges for next-gen aircraft” – will allow Ryanair to increase its traffic to Ireland during the upcoming peak tourism season. One additional aircraft will take Ryanair’s total Dublin-based fleet to 34, while 14 of its existing fleet will be swapped for new more fuel-efficient Boeing models.
Additionally, Ryanair’s upcoming “record summer schedule” will include 123 routes (and a new service to Morocco’s Rabat) as well as “extra flights on 18 existing popular routes”.
The 32 million a year passenger total has remained unchanged since the cap was first introduced by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) in 2007, something imposed as part of the conditions accompanying the building of the airport’s second terminal. “While this is great news for Irish passengers in the short term, the long-term problem has not gone away and while we are confident that the EU Court of Justice will deem the Dublin traffic cap illegal, there is currently no certainty that Dublin will be able to grow beyond summer 2025,” said Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson.
He added that the abolition of the cap would allow Ryanair to grow Ireland’s traffic 50% to 30 million passengers a year by 2030, and called on the Transport Minister to make its abolishment “the new Government’s number one priority” or “risk Dublin’s traffic growth stagnating once again to the detriment of Ireland’s tourism, jobs, and economy”.
Dublin Airport operator daa has also previously voiced its frustration with the ongoing cap, with its ongoing Infrastructure Application seeking a revised limit of 40 million passengers annually. With the DAA having warned in early December 2024 that demand continues to be “very high” and that passenger numbers would “be over 33 million for the full year 2024,” it remained frustrated at the requirement to “take the necessary measures to dampen demand”.