Irish regulator: Dublin slot availability limited by legacy terminal planning condition

Dublin airport’s summer capacity next year will be capped at 25.2m seats, with the Irish civil aviation regulator warning that slot demand is likely to greatly exceed this limit. It points out that summer 2025 is the second scheduling season to take account of an Irish national planning body condition – dating from 2007 – which restricts the combined annual capacity of Dublin’s two terminals to just 32m. “This planning condition remains in existence, and is limiting the available slot capacity below the capacity of the physical infrastructure,” says the Irish Aviation Authority. Its summer seat capacity limit of 25.2m, plus a winter 2024 limit of 14.4m, gives a total of 39.6m seats – higher than the conditional passenger limit of 32m, because it adjusts for load factor as well as transfer passengers. The regulator says it expects demand for summer 2025 slots will “significantly exceed” the cap, and it will prioritise carriers according to slot usage in summer 2024. But it cautions that “not all slot series” from this year will be able to find accommodation next year. The regulator adds that the cap decision will result in “very little, if any” available capacity for new, or ad hoc, slot requests – a consequence of the planning condition which, it says, it has no power to amend or revoke. It points out that, if the planning condition did not impose the 32m-passenger restriction, it could declare a “significantly higher” airport capacity, providing slot opportunities for growth and new entrants.<br/>