The EU Court of Justice has ruled the passenger cap at Dublin Airport may be taken into account when allocating airline slots and could result in an airline losing an allocation it has previously used.
The ruling, published this morning, finds that legal limits set down in a development consent “where it restricts the operational capacity of the airport and must be complied with by the airport’s operator” can be included among the parameters for the basis of an objective analysis of the airport’s capacity.
EU regulations which govern airport slots and how they are allocated must be based on that objective analysis.
The ruling follows an initial opinion from the Advocate General of the ECJ in February which also found “an annual passenger limit imposed by a planning authority may be taken into account when allocating slots at an airport with capacity problems”.
Today’s ruling from the ECJ says “it is immaterial whether the urban planning rule is long-standing or the policy underlying it has evolved.”
The court also finds taking the passenger cap into account could exceptionally result in some historic slots or part of them not being reallocated to airlines “which would otherwise in principle be entitled to them”.
The ruling clarifies that “such slots, given they are temporary and have not been definitively acquired, do not consitute a right to property within the meaning of the Charter of Fundamental Rights”.
A bill giving the Minister for Transport and Climate Darragh O’Brien the right to lift the passenger cap was signed into law in July.
He said he hopes to lift the cap as soon as possible following an environmental assessment.
In a statement, Dublin Airport operator daa said it noted today’s judgement by the European Court of Justice, which it said was consistent with the opinion of the Advocate General issued in February.
“The judgement brings much-needed clarity to the various regulatory regimes impacting aviation in Ireland”, daa said.
“The Irish government’s decisive action in passing legislation to address the passenger cap, together with daa’s €2 billion Infrastructure Application to expand and future-proof Dublin Airport’s capacity and facilities, is critical to supporting Ireland’s international connectivity, job creation and economic success,” it added.
The Minister said today that he noted the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
As this matter is the subject of ongoing proceedings in the Irish High Court, the Minister will make no further comment on the matter, a statement from the Department of Transport added.
