Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 16 November 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

Update on Issues in Aviation Sector: Engagement with Mr. Willie Walsh

Mr. Willie Walsh:

Yes. That is a great question. It did have some impact but it was very marginal. We have seen an impact on a number of airports around Europe, principally Heathrow in the UK and Schiphol in Amsterdam where caps for passenger numbers were introduced. The widespread coverage of disruption at the airports, including at Dublin Airport, clearly sent a worrying signal to consumers who were considering flying during the earlier part of this year. The three airports that received the most coverage globally, and certainly within Europe, were London Heathrow, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, and Dublin Airport, for that period when there was significant disruption. It had a very marginal impact. We witnessed a slowdown in bookings for a short period, but then a strong recovery. The main reasons for the year-to-date figures being impacted in the way I expressed them earlier are due to the border closures and the restrictions that principally continued during the first quarter of this year. Most of those restrictions were relaxed from March onwards. The second half of this year, from July onwards, has seen a very strong recovery. That is evident here in Ireland where, in some cases, markets are already above where they were in 2019. I would say that the problems have largely been overcome at most airports but not so at Schiphol, and to a lesser degree at Heathrow. I have travelled in and out of Dublin Airport and I experienced a reasonable service. It is not where it was and what we have become used to, but I believe it is a reasonable service compared to where it had been during the period of disruption.

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