USING DUBLIN AIRPORT'S EXPERIENCE IN OVERCOMING THE EFFECTS OF REGULATORY RESTRICTIONS
Authors:   Trinity Executive Education, Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin, Pavelko Vitaliy 
Published: February 2025

The article examines the experience of overcoming the consequences of regulatory restrictions on the volume of air traffic at Dublin Airport (Republic of Ireland) and examines the reasons, current state and practical measures taken by the operator of Dublin Airport and airlines in order to support, expand and further develop the aviation industry in Ireland and use the specified experience for the post-war development of Ukrainian aviation. Ireland is an island country, so developing the appropriate infrastructure to ensure efficient air transport is very important for further developing the Irish economy. Dublin Airport is the main gateway to the country and is one of the fastest-growing airports in the European and global aviation markets. With the growth of the airline network, Dublin Airport in turn is developing a combination of both short-haul and long-haul operators. While other European hub airports are struggling to create additional production capacity to handle the projected increased demand for both physical and technical reasons, Dublin Airport has the potential with its additional runway, terminal capacity, and location between Europe and North America. It also has great potential as a gateway to the Middle and Far East. The article considers, that thanks to these factors, average passenger traffic growth projections have been found to indicate that by 2030, Dublin Airport will serve around 40 million passengers. However, the constant growth of passengers and airlines at the airport in recent decades has caused other problems. Dublin Airport is currently approaching 32 million passengers per year, the maximum Dublin region local authority allows under the terminal's 2007 building permit. The article proves that already this autumn, the number of passengers at Dublin Airport will decrease due to the decision of the Irish Aviation Administration (IAA) regarding the winter period. This reduction will result in a reduction in the number of seats that airlines flying from the airport can offer to passengers between November 2024 and March 2025. Because of this, the airlines operating at the airport were forced to reduce the scope of their activities. Also in October of this year, the Irish Aviation Authority set a limit on the number of passengers at Dublin Airport for the summer navigation period of 2025 at 25.2 million. Thus, the summer of 2025 will be the second season, taking into account the annual passenger limits. The imposition of a cap on the number of air passengers has a negative impact on all airlines currently operating at Dublin Airport (as they cannot obtain additional permits, open new routes and destinations), as well as on potential new airlines that are blocked by this cap as they cannot obtain temporary intervals (further - slots) for arrival and departure flights. Thus, limiting the number of air passengers at Dublin Airport blocks the further development of the Irish economy, trade and tourism, disrupts the creation of new jobs, and blocks the emergence of new airlines, routes, and destinations. On the one hand, according to EU law, airlines have free access to the airport, Dublin Airport has the physical capacity to serve airlines, and there is a lot of demand from airlines. On the other hand, there is a maximum number of passengers, which was established by the local authorities by the construction permit in 2007, and the prerequisites for which have already been resolved. The case has thus been referred to the EU court and I am sure that the EU court ruling on this particular case will have ramifications for aviation across Europe. Consequently, many aviation professionals around the world, European aviation regulators, airport authorities, and airlines are interested and awaiting a decision on the lifting of the passenger limit at Dublin Airport. We are confident that the court decision will resolve this issue, but it needs to be resolved as soon as possible, as the continued sustainable development of Dublin Airport to meet this growing demand will be critical to the growth of the economy, tourism, and trade, attracting investment and jobs for Ireland.