Aviation watchdog, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), last year obtained €1.12m in compensation and refunds for airline passengers in respect of 1,213 complaints upheld against airlines.
The 2025 annual report for the IAA shows that compensation of €795,500 was secured along with €334,471 in refunds for passengers.
The report states that 1,221 complaints against airlines were not upheld in favour of the complainant.
The €1.12m in compensation and refunds paid out last year is 27% down on the €1.55m in compensation and refunds in 2024 concerning 1,726 upheld complaints.
The 2025 report states that the main reason for complaints not being upheld was that the air carrier was able to prove that a disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances and therefore would be exempt from paying compensation.
The report states that of the 1,213 complaints upheld, 629 complaints related to cancellation, 487 complaints concerned long delays while 85 complaints related to “denied boarding”.
A further 12 complaints were upheld concerning “downgrading”.
The report states that last year Aer Lingus accounted for 31% of all complaints with Ryanair accounting for 28%.
It also shows that Emerald Airlines accounted for 7% of complaints, Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways accounted for 3% each while the remaining 28% of complaints related to 47 other airlines.
The report also states that the IAA handled 2,883 complaints against airlines in 2025, this included complaints carried over from 2024 and 2,112 complaints submitted in 2025.
The 2,883 complaints handled in 2025 is 35% down on the 4,425 complaints handled by the IAA.
The drop in complaints is in contrast to the surge in passengers using Ireland’s six international airports rising from 40 million in 2024 to 44 million last year.
The report states that the number of complaints submitted in 2025 was down 5% in comparison to the 2024 complaint levels.
On service quality at Dublin airport, the report states that security queue times have improved notably since 2023. Security queue times did not exceed 30 minutes on any day in 2025 and remained below 20 minutes 99% of the time.
Pre-tax profits at the IAA last year more than doubled from €2.57m to €7.1m as revenues increased by 22% to €45.6m where IAA’s revenues are generated through charges and fees raised from regulated entities and the users of its services.
The IAA’s legal costs and settlements last year totalled €730,000 made up of €407,000 in settlements and €323,000 in costs and the report states that the determination of legal costs in respect of a legacy defamation case from 2014 were settled in 2025 for the sum of €407,486 following a Supreme Court Decision.
Numbers employed increased from 189 to 205 with 144 engaged in safety regulation; 40 in corporate services and 21 in “other operational”.
Staff costs increased from €22m to €24.76m. The report shows that 99 employees earned more than €100,000 which included four in the €175,000 to €200,000 pay range. 28 earned between €150,000 and €175,000 and 47 earned between €125,000 and €150,000 while 20 earned between €100,000 and €125,000.
CEO Declan Fitzpatrick received €195,000 in salary and €21,255 in pension contributions.
In her report, chair Rose Hynes states that profits were higher than expected last year.
Ms Hynes stated that “the company’s expected cost base was lower than expected, thus planned expenditure within the period was not as high as anticipated.”
“There were a number of reasons for this result, many exceptional items that the IAA does not foresee re-occurring. This includes significantly less expenditure on pay, pensions and training,” Ms Hynes said.
“In addition, legal and consultancy costs have been lower than expected, largely due to daa plc discontinuing a High Court action against IAA in relation to airport charges at the start of the year,” she added.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
