Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 12, 2026
2 min readLast updated: February 12, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleDublin Airport may cap passengers at 32 million due to capacity issues, as advised by a CJEU opinion. Airlines oppose the slot reduction.
BRUSSELS, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Ryanair on Thursday warned that Dublin Airport may be forced to cut capacity by over 15% and Aer Lingus flights to New York could be blocked after an adviser to Europe's top court backed the basis of a passenger cap at Ireland's main airport.
The imposition of the 32 million passenger-per-year cap has been suspended pending a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, but on Thursday the court's Advocate General Campos Sanchez-Bordona indicated there was no reason to strike down the cap.
The court, which follows such non-binding opinions in four out of five cases, will rule in the coming months.
"Today’s Advocate General Ruling, which is likely to be followed by the ECJ in June or July, means that traffic at Dublin Airport, which will be 38 million in 2026 must now be cut back to 32 million, if the Irish government doesn’t take urgent action," Ryanair, one of the airlines that brought the case, said in a statement.
The cap was imposed by local planners in 2008, but only became an issue in 2024 when passenger numbers neared the limit. Dublin Airport overshot by over 4 million passengers last year.
In the challenge, Ryanair and other airlines argued that the elimination or reduction of slots was unjustified and compromised their freedom to conduct business, but Thursday's opinion rejected both arguments.
U.S. industry trade group Airlines for America filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation last month asking it to curtail Irish carriers' access to the U.S. if the cap at Dublin Airport is not swiftly scrapped.
That could significantly hurt Aer Lingus, the former flag carrier that is part of the IAG group of airlines and the only Irish airline with significant U.S. operations, something O'Leary described as a "real risk".
The Irish cabinet this week gave formal backing to a law to scrap the passenger cap, but it may take until the end of the year for the law to be passed by parliament.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, Sudip Kar-Gupta and Conor Humphries; editing by Inti Landauro and Sharon Singleton)
A passenger cap is a limit set by authorities on the number of passengers that can use an airport or terminal within a specific timeframe to manage congestion and capacity.
Airport slots are permissions granted to airlines to take off or land at an airport at a specific time, crucial for managing limited runway capacity.
The planning authority is responsible for making decisions regarding land use and development, including setting limits like passenger caps at airports.
Compliance with EU legislation ensures that regulations are followed, maintaining legal standards and protecting the rights of all stakeholders in the aviation sector.
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