More choice and lower prices are expected as a passenger cap at Dublin Airport was paused on Monday.
The number of passenger seats available on aircrafts using the airport next summer will not now be cut following a ruling by the High Court in Dublin.
The move, which saw a judge grant a stay on a decision by the aviation regulator to cap the number of take-off and landing slots during the busy peak season, was welcomed by Ryanair as a “sensible ruling”.
Aer Lingus, Ryanair and a consortium of American airlines brought an urgent application over the Irish Aviation Authority’s (IAA) decision last month to limit passenger numbers to 25.2 million between late March and October.
The cap would have meant that around one million fewer seats would be available.
The consortium had urged the court to rule in their favour ahead of next week’s allocation of slots to carriers. They claimed an urgent court intervention was needed to prevent “imminent, permanent and irreparable harm”.
The cap was put in place in 2007 as part of the planning permission granted for the second terminal at the airport and restricts passenger numbers to 32 million a year.
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On Monday, Mr Justice O’Donnell said the airlines would suffer “immediate serious consequences” if he implemented the IAA decision.
In his written ruling, he said the potential impact of breaching the 2007 planning conditions did not outweigh the “highly probable and very serious adverse consequences” of failing to grant a stay in the proceedings.
“Those consequences extend beyond the immediate serious effects on the applicants, but include serious disruption for the public and potential harmful effects for the broader economy,” he said.
“In those premises the court is not satisfied that the asserted public interest in complains with planning conditions properly operates to outweigh the established risk of very serious injustice that attaches to not granting a stay,” he added.
The judge added that he was granting the stay on a limited basis and it would apply only to the implementation and operation of the IAA’s passenger seat cap of 25.2 million passengers next summer.
Kenny Jacobs, airport operator DAA chief executive, said: “Today’s decision will be welcomed by aviation as it brings clarity and allows all parties to move forward and protects jobs and connectivity which is in everyone’s interest.
“We are now reviewing the detail of the decision to understand the exact implications for next year.
“The planning cap remains a significant issue for Ireland, and it is essential the planning regime now moves quickly to fully resolve the issue for the long term.”
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said the High Court ruling “clears the way for this matter to be referred to the European Courts where Ryanair is confident that this absurd road traffic restriction from 2007 will be removed, which will enable airlines like Ryanair to continue to grow traffic, tourism, and jobs in Ireland”.
