Ryanair to cut 14 routes from Dublin Airport this winter
Ryanair has announced it is cutting a number of routes from Dublin Airport for the winter period as the row over the passenger cap continues.
The Irish airline, one of the two biggest operators at Dublin airport, will cancel 14 routes for the October to March period to comply with the 13m annual seat limit on airlines.
The affected services include routes to and from Asturias, Castellon and Santiago in Spain, Carcassonne in France, Leipzig and Nuremberg in Germany, Palanga in Lithuania, and Sibiu and Suceava in Romana.
The airline has warned that it would be unlikely that all of the routes would be restored for the summer schedule.
Dublin Airport has an annual passenger limit of 32m that was established as a condition of the construction of the second terminal.
It is expected that airlines will have to cut the number of seats available to passengers flying in and out of Dublin by 1m next year to comply with the cap.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) recently proposed limiting airlines at Dublin Airport 25.2m next summer.
Aer Lingus has said it is “continuing to assess the impact of the IAA’s draft decision reducing capacity for summer 2025″ and that it would take part in a consultation on the proposal.
If the new summer limit is confirmed, the IAA believes there will be "little if any scope" for new take-off and landing slots at Dublin next year.
An Bord Pleanála (ABP) has also proposed limiting night-time flights to 13,000 per year, down from 36,000 such flights last year.
Dublin Airport operator DAA said the draft decision would "complicate" its efforts to provide extra information to Fingal County Council on its application seeking to lift the cap to 40m.
Ryanair is cutting 14 routes to comply with the passenger cap at Dublin Airport. (Pic: Getty Images)DAA also said the planning board's intervention added complexities to its proposal for interim permission from Fingal County Council to raise the cap to 36m. The company is working through the detail of both problems.
Business Plus has contacted Ryanair for comment.
Photo: Michael O'Leary, CEO of Ryanair. (Pic: Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
