IAA publishes draft decision on Dublin Airport coordination parameters for summer 2025

Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) published (12-Sep-2024) its draft decision on coordination parameters at Dublin Airport for summer 2025, from 30-Mar-2025 to 25-Oct-2025, proposing to limit capacity to 25.2 million seats. The measure would make summer 2025 the second scheduling season in which a seat cap to meet the 32 million passengers p/a planning condition has been implemented. The seat cap for winter 2024/25 is 14.4 million, meaning the proposal would result in a total seat capacity of 39.6 million across the two seasons. IAA stated: "The seat cap is greater than the passenger cap as it takes account of expected load factors and an adjustment for transfer passengers". IAA anticipates demand for slots for summer 2025 will significantly exceed the proposed seat cap. Air carriers that operated series of slots (five weeks or longer) in summer 2024 will be given priority, on initial coordination, in relation to those series for summer 2025. However, IAA anticipates that not all slot series from summer 2024 will be able to be accommodated within the proposed seat cap. IAA also anticipates that, similar to winter 2024/25, its proposal "would result in very little, if any, available capacity for new slot requests, or for ad hoc slot requests, for passenger flights using the capacity of Terminal 1 or Terminal 2 during the summer 2025 scheduling season". IAA stated this outcome and its implications for airlines, Dublin Airport and the travelling public "flows as a consequence of the planning condition itself". The authority stated it "is required to take account of all relevant technical, operational and environmental constraints" and has no power to "amend or revoke planning conditions". A final decision on summer 2025 capacity will be made in Oct-2025. [more - original PR]