engers at Dublin Airport down 0.5% in February as chief criticises cap on numbers
Ellen O'Donoghue
The enger cap continued to restrict Dublin Airport in February, according to a statement released by the airport operator DAA on Wednesday.
enger numbers at Dublin Airport were down by 0.5 per cent in February 2025 when compared to same month in 2024, with just under 2.1 million engers.
Kenny Jacobs, chief executive of DAA, the operator of Dublin and Cork airports, said that the opening months of 2025 “starkly highlighted the impact of having an out-of-date enger cap on Ireland's main gateway.
“Figures from the Central Statistics Office show a very worrying 25 per cent drop in the number of tourists that visited Ireland in January,” he said.
Operationally, however, Dublin Airport had a strong February, Mr Kenny added.
“Security screening moved really well with 98% of engers through in under 20 minutes and 89% of first-wave departures leaving on time. However, it was the third month running of flat or declining enger numbers year-on-year, despite strong demand from both engers and airlines to fly in and out of Dublin.
“engers and airlines are looking enviously across the Irish Sea, where the UK government is actively ing the expansion of all London Airports, with a focus on accelerating their planning system to build for the UK’s future.
Mr Jacobs said that daa welcomed the comments by Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister Darragh O’Brien that the government will ‘do everything it can’ to lift the enger cap.
“We need the enger cap removed in the next six months, and we need turbocharged planning that gives faster decisions and allows daa to add new terminal capacity,” he said.
“If we remain stuck in the existing planning process and timelines, then it will take years. We believe that every solution should be on the table as we look to unblock this ime to protect connectivity, tourism and jobs.
“We have shared some new solutions with the Minister, including following the UK model where central Government has taken control of planning decisions on critical transport infrastructure to deliver faster decisions.
“Whether it's the Taoiseach, the general public, airlines or the business community, it is widely accepted that the enger cap needs to go,” Mr Jacobs said.
The statement from daa said that it continues to do “all it can to remove the enger cap.
“In early February, daa resubmitted its ‘no build’ Operational Application (OA) to Fingal County Council to increase enger numbers at Dublin Airport to 36 million a year.
“daa hopes the OA can now move swiftly through the planning process to provide a short-term solution to the terminals cap ime impacting Ireland’s connectivity, tourism and economy,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Cork Airport continued to grow strongly, welcoming a total of 203,466 engers in February, marking an increase of 6 per cent compared to February 2024.
Both airports were busy in February with inbound and outbound sports fans travelling to Six Nations rugby matches, people taking advantage of the school midterm break, Valentine’s Day and the St Brigid’s bank holiday weekend for short breaks.
Mr Jacobs said that the busiest day of the month at Cork Airport, February 21st, coincided with the last day of the midterm break.
“The increased number of engers travelling during mid-term resulted in very healthy load factors and performance on services to London, Manchester, Liverpool, Seville and Paris, while popular sun destinations also recorded a significant boost – particularly Malaga, Alicante, Lanzarote and Tenerife,” Mr Jacobs said.
Cork Airport announced a new integrated ticketing initiative with Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann in February, meaning that engers travelling from Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Laois can purchase one ticket that includes a rail journey followed by a bus transfer from Kent Station in Cork to the airport.
“Cork Airport needs more public transport services, and the team are working closely with the National Transport Authority (NTA) on that front,” Mr Jacobs said.
