{"id":346765,"date":"2026-03-15T01:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T01:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/346765\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T01:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T01:15:20","slug":"us-airlines-demand-immediate-removal-of-dublin-airport-passenger-cap-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/346765\/","title":{"rendered":"US airlines demand immediate removal of Dublin Airport passenger cap \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

US airlines have called for immediate laws to remove the Dublin Airport passenger cap<\/a>, saying the measure \u201cdisproportionately impacts\u201d American carriers.<\/p>\n

The demand from Airlines for America (A4A)<\/a>, the main lobby group for US carriers, comes as Minister for Transport Darragh O\u2019Brien prepares draft legislation to do away with the 32 million annual limit on passengers. <\/p>\n

\u201cDelay risks prolonging instability and undermining confidence,\u201d said A4A, whose members include American Airlines, United and Delta. <\/p>\n

\"\"\u2018Over a billion eyeballs will be on the parade\u2019: St Patrick\u2019s festival CEO Richard Tierney<\/p>\n

\u201cAirlines for America welcomes and supports the Minister\u2019s legislative initiative. However, the urgency of resolving this issue cannot be overstated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cap <\/a>was breached in the last two years after strong airport growth, but enforcement is on hold pending litigation in the Irish and European courts. <\/p>\n

A4A set out its view in a submission to the Oireachtas transport committee<\/a>, which is scrutinising O\u2019Brien\u2019s plan. The committee will hear next week from north Co Dublin community representatives who oppose removal of the cap.<\/p>\n

The group argued the cap <\/a>led to \u201casymmetry\u201d in transatlantic route development at the airport. \u201cIrish carriers have launched new US services and expanded networks,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

\u201cUS airlines have not had a fair and equal opportunity to secure incremental Dublin slots required for similar expansion, and in some cases, new entrants have been denied access to [Dublin Airport].<\/p>\n

\u201cIrish carriers are able to more freely expand within the cap while US carriers are constrained from growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Absolute disgrace\u2019: Residents react over approval to scrap Dublin Airport passenger capOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

There was no comment on such claims from DAA, the State-owned operator of the airport.<\/p>\n

A4A said airlines make fleet, route and slot decisions with long lead times up to a year in advance. <\/p>\n

\u201cContinued uncertainty carries real-world implications for airlines, passengers, shippers, commercial entities and relations between our two countries,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The cap was imposed by planners in 2008 as a condition of approval for the second Dublin Airport terminal. <\/p>\n

Given breaches in 2024 and 2025, airlines have been pressing the Government to tackle the cap and have expressed frustration at the lack of progress. <\/p>\n

A4A said the transatlantic market is not solely tourism-driven, noting its importance to multinational business investment that is critical for Irish employment and tax revenues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States is Ireland\u2019s largest source of foreign direct investment and a major export partner. Direct aviation links between Ireland and major US airports underpin the movement of professional services, investment flows, business travel and other sectors, including pharmaceutical and technology supply chains,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

The submission noted the judicial stay on the cap <\/a>but described it as an interim position that will not endure indefinitely. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe committee should be focused on the swift adoption of this legislation to remove the passenger cap,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

A4A filed a formal complaint against the cap <\/a>in January with the US department of transport, claiming it breaches the State\u2019s legal obligations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe filing reflects the seriousness with which the issue is viewed in the United States,\u201d it said, expressing concern that the cap is incompatible with the US-EU air transport agreement. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is regrettable that escalation to a formal complaint became necessary after years of engagement.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US airlines have called for immediate laws to remove the Dublin Airport passenger cap, saying the measure \u201cdisproportionately…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[140322,72,10725,11900,61,60],"class_list":["post-346765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-airlines-for-america","tag-business","tag-daa","tag-dublin-airport","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}