Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 22 November 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

Management of Passenger Numbers at Dublin Airport: Discussion

Mr. Kenny Jacobs:

Studies have been done but, at the same time, if we take the situation today, there are 14,000 new aircraft on order and there have never been more new aircraft on order from the airlines. I have heard that IATA, the representative body of airlines globally, is planning to double capacity in the next couple of decades. The airlines are very bullish on fleet replacement and very bullish on adding new capacity. At the same time, there is not one new airport being built anywhere in Europe and for the next two decades, we might see no new airport being built in Europe. There was talk of Montijo near Lisbon and Lelystad near Schiphol being added, but I think there will be a restriction on airport capacity. The airlines are certainly quite bullish on adding capacity; they have had a very good summer and their airfares and profitability are very strong. It is probably a better question for them as to where they see demand going. We will still need to have a bigger airport because there is clearly demand beyond 32 million at the moment, and that is why we are putting in the infrastructure application. I hope that, economically, things are positive, and I hope people continue to travel and that we can do that in a way that also brings down emissions.

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