Rachel Cunningham
Ryanair has claimed that it will be forced to consider significant cancellations at Dublin airport from September, if a flight limit is imposed to limit noise pollution.
These comments came in light of an enforcement notice issued by Fingal County Council, which seeks to reduce the daily amount of flights taking off and landing at the airport to 65, between the times of 11pm and 7am.
Fingal County Council has asserted that the airport’s summer schedule is in breach of agreed conditions when planning permission was awarded to the north runway, last August.
Overnight flights currently function from the south runway, while the north point remains closed between 11pm and 7am.
Ryanair’s Group CEO, Michael O’Leary, called for the reduced period to be shifted to the hours of midnight and 6am.
The airline has claimed that night time restrictions are not needed for the new planes operated by Ryanair and Aer Lingus, which are apparently 50 per cent quieter.
The CEO described the flight restrictions as “bizarre”, stating that €300m will have been spent on a second runway only for fewer flights to be in action than when just one runway was operating.
He said that the Minister for Transport should encourage Fingal County Council to withdraw the enforcement notice.
The Taoiseach stated that the issue was with An Bord Pleanála and the courts, adding that no disruption to people’s flights are foreseen.
Dublin Airport recorded its busiest ever day in July, with 120,585 passengers travelling through the airport on Sunday, July 30.
An estimated 3.4m passengers, including 205,000 transfer and transit passengers, made their way through the airport, 13 per cent more than the equivalent month in 2022 and an equal amount to July 2019.
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