A cap on passengers using Dublin airport next summer has been paused after airlines challenged the proposal.
The high court in Dublin granted a stay on a decision by Ireland’s aviation regulator to cap the number of take-off and landing slots during the busy peak season.
The decision was welcomed by airlines which took the action.
Aer Lingus, Ryanair and a consortium of US carriers last week brought an urgent application over the Irish Aviation Authority’s (IAA’s) decision to limit passenger numbers to 25.2 million for the March to October period.
An Irish high court judge paused the effects of the passenger cap that was due to imminently affect airlines’ access to take-off and landing slots for summer 2025.
The court ruling on Monday comes just days before the passenger cap was due to be applied by slot coordinator ACL in its allocation of the airport’s summer period slots to airlines.
Giving his judgment, Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell said the airlines would suffer “immediate serious consequences” if he refused to pause the operation and implementation of the seat cap in the IAA decision.
The consequences “extend beyond” the immediate serious effects for airlines and include “serious disruption for the public and potential harmful effects for the broader economy”, he said.
The consequences of a potential breach of 2007 planning conditions, which were highlighted by the airport’s operator DAA, do not outweigh the “highly probable and very serious adverse consequences” of failing to pause the decision.