Chief executive of Ryanair Group Michael O’Leary has said airlines have yet to see the details of the incentives or discounts being offered by Dublin Airport Authority (Daa) for those willing to move flights to Cork Airport from Dublin as a result of the capacity limit.
In July, Daa chief executive Kenny Jacobs said while Dublin Airport was restricted, Cork Airport had the capacity to grow further and over the next couple of years airlines that move routes and traffic from Dublin to Cork would be offered lower charges to keep the aircraft in the country.
At the time, he said Daa had already begun talks with airlines about the incentive scheme.
Speaking to reporters following his company’s annual general meeting on Thursday in Dublin, Mr O’Leary said airlines had yet to receive details of the incentives or discounts to attract airlines to Cork.
“Daa has not yet published a discount scheme for airlines switching flights out of Dublin to Cork,” he said.
Mr O’Leary added trying to encourage airlines to leave slots at Dublin Airport would not control passenger numbers coming in all that much.
“The problem for the airlines is if you switch a slot out of Dublin, somebody else will come and nick the slot. In fact, we’ll come and nick the slot, anybody else’s slot, we’ll take the slot if they move to Cork and we’ll fill it and they won’t get it back,” he said.
The has contacted Daa for a response to Mr O’Leary’s comments.
Dublin Airport is currently limited to 32 million passengers a year under its 2007 planning permission granted by Fingal County Council. Daa has a planning application before the council which could allow it to increase its capacity limit to 40 million.
However, despite the limit being in place, Daa has already said Dublin Airport would breach the limit this year.
Mr O’Leary called the restriction “bogus” because it was based over fears over road access to the airport in 2007. He said the airport could sustain more than that, pointing to the fact it would breach the limit this year.
“We would have added another million passengers in Dublin this year without that cap,” he said.
Mr O’Leary called on Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to direct the Irish Aviation Authority to add more slots to Dublin Airport this winter and next year, adding he did not believe there would be any “ramification for breaching the limit”.
He said the limit was “preventing us and the other airlines from adding the 250,000 extra seats we had every Christmas, which is preventing the children going to Lapland”.
“Transport Minister Eamon Ryan is ruining Christmas. We’re going to be cancelling the Santa flights,” he said, adding there were 20 charter flights to Lapland that would not be going ahead from Dublin this year.