Planners could boost Dublin Airport cap to 40m next year - DAA chief

Planners could give Dublin Airport the green light to handle 40m passengers a-year in coming months, raising a controversial cap at the country’s biggest gateway, Kenny Jacobs, CE of DAA, predicts. State airports company DAA recently answered questions posed by Fingal County Council on the firm’s application to raise the current passenger limit from 32m a-year to 40m. DAA now hopes that the council will approve the proposal some time in the first three months of next year, as Fingal’s own development plan provides for 40m passengers using the airport every year, according to Jacobs. However, he believes that any decision will face appeals, making the timing of a final decision uncertain. “It would be great if we had definite timelines for planning in Ireland,” he said, dubbing the current system was “too open-ended”. Jacobs was speaking on Wednesday as airlines kicked off a legal challenge to the passenger cap in a move expected to end up before the European courts. He also confirmed that DAA is likely to lodge a second application seeking to have the cap raised to 36m within the next eight weeks.<br/>