Dublin Airport Sees Passenger Slump on St. Patrick’s Weekend

The airport continues to try and remove its passenger cap.

Aer Lingus is the largest carrier at Dublin Airport. (Photo: Dublin Airport)

[ Airports ]March 12, 2025 8:02 am ET

By Pete Ainsley

Dublin Airport will see a decrease in passenger volume on the coming St. Patrick’s weekend. As a result of the passenger cap, the Irish hub will welcome around 400,000 passengers, compared to more than 410,000 last year. The airport said that the cap is “an impact.”

The airport also saw a decrease in passengers in February, while other European airports saw an upward trajectory. However, Cork Airport stands to benefit from the cap, seeing an increase in passengers.

Earlier, Kenny Jacob, head of the Dublin Airport Authority, hasn’t stopped criticizing the policy and has spoken to two U.S. airlines who “can’t get their head around the winter cap.” But Jacob forecasts the passenger volume can rise to 40 million before 2030.

Back in 2007, Fingal County Council set a 32 million passenger cap in exchange for building the new terminal, considering the large number of passengers using the airport could cause gridlock in the area.

Dublin Airport urges the government to relax the cap in the next six months.

“Numbers coming to Ireland for St Patrick’s Day will be a little more subdued this year due to the passenger cap, which is currently limiting the number of flights that airline can operate,” Graeme McQueen, the airport’s media relations manager, said in a statement.

Ryanair Urges the Government to Relax Cap

Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, is also taking a firm line on lifting the cap, believing it could hinder the economic growth in Ireland. In addition, the council gave a green light to the second runway in 2017 with no concern about the traffic.

“We’re going to take 330 aircraft over the next 10-year and the only question in my mind is, how many of those aircraft can we put in Dublin?” O’Leary told Newstalk.