Ryanair will add around 600,000 seats to this year’s winter schedule from Irish airports, new figures show, as restrictions at the State’s key gateway remain in legal limbo.
An analysis of the carrier’s plans for winter 2025/26 by aviation data consultancy OAG, which Ryanair confirms as broadly correct, shows that the Irish group intends to grow in most key European countries.
From this year, Ryanair will boost the total number of seats out of the Republic of Ireland over the winter season by 15.5 per cent, to 4.89 million. The corresponding figure was 4.23 million last winter.
The airline confirmed that it is growing capacity at Dublin Airport, its biggest Irish base, “thanks to our successful appeal” to the European courts against the “illegal” cap, which caps passenger numbers there at 32 million a year.
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Ryanair, Aer Lingus and others challenged the cap in the Irish High Court, which referred key issues to the Court of Justice of the EU, suspending the restriction pending the outcome of the airlines’ action.
Traffic at Dublin Airport could exceed 36 million passengers this year.
Ryanair is adding almost 1.6 million seats in Italy, where its capacity will top 16.86 million this winter. The airline has been increasing its presence at bases in Italian regions that are cutting travel taxes and other costs.
In another big market for the Irish airline, it will boost capacity in the UK by 6.3 per cent to 12.5 million.
Ryanair plans to slash capacity in France this winter by 11.3 per cent to 2.64 million seats. The carrier blames the country’s latest tax increase on flights for this.
OAG notes that the airline is cutting back at every airport at which it operates in France.
The biggest losers in terms of numbers will be Paris Beauvais and Marseille, according to the consultancy. It has pulled out of Strasbourg, Bergerac and Brive.
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The Government pledged to lift the Dublin Airport passenger cap following “consultations with stakeholders” in the programme published in January.
An Bord Pleanála imposed the limit in 2007, as a condition of allowing the airport build a second terminal, to ease fears about traffic congestion.
Darragh O’Brien, Minister for Transport, sought advice from the Attorney General Rossa Fanning, on legislation to lift the planning curb in spring.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has criticised the Government for failing to act on the pledge.
