The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that Ireland’s aviation regulator must continue to apply the statutory cap of 32 million passengers a year when it allocates take-off and landing slots at Dublin Airport. The judgment ends a two-year legal battle launched by several airlines, led by Ryanair and IAG, which argued that the cap was an Irish planning matter and should not restrict slot coordination. In a detailed judgment delivered in Luxembourg on 15 October, the CJEU found that the cap, originally imposed by An Bord Pleanála to protect communities living near the airport’s new north runway, is a “binding national measure that competent authorities must respect when exercising EU functions”. This means the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) must factor the limit into the twice-yearly slot conferences – a blow to carriers that had hoped to expand winter 2026/27 services. For global mobility managers, the decision prolongs capacity constraints at Ireland’s main international gateway just as demand rebounds. Dublin handled more than 29 million passengers in the first nine months of 2026 and had expected to surpass the 32 million ceiling in 2027. Corporate travel buyers may face higher fares on peak services until a long-planned second terminal pier and metro link are approved. The ruling also raises practical questions for companies rotating assignees through Dublin. Airlines will need to optimise fleets and may favour higher-yielding long-haul routes, potentially squeezing short-notice intra-EU trips. Employers should encourage staff to book early and explore alternatives such as Cork–Amsterdam or Belfast City–London for feeder connections. With the court’s clarity, the Irish Government is expected to accelerate a fresh planning application to raise the cap, backed by daa’s €2 billion capacity-expansion programme. However, any revision is unlikely before 2028, prolonging a tight slot environment in the short to medium term.
Source: The Irish Times
