Ryanair is taking advantage of a suspension of Dublin airport’s contentious traffic cap to hike capacity at the Irish capital this summer.
The airline is to station a total of 34 aircraft at Dublin, including 14 Boeing 737 Max 8-200s.
Ireland’s aviation regulator had warned last year that Dublin would be forced to impose slot restrictions this summer over a legacy planning condition for its terminal buildings.
This condition capped total annual passenger numbers for the two terminals at 32 million.
Ryanair and Aer Lingus took legal action over the cap and the Irish High Court, at the end of last year, ordered a stay on the cap pending a European Union court ruling.
The budget airline describes the cap as “artificial” and says its suspension will enable the carrier to expand its Dublin operation.
It will open a new route to the Moroccan capital, Rabat, and put additional frequencies on 18 other routes – among them Milan, Malta and Valencia.
Ryanair says this marks its first capacity increase at Dublin since the Irish Aviation Authority enforced the cap in May last year.
The fleet substitution with 737 Max jets, it adds, is a response to the airport’s offer of lower fees for modern aircraft.
But it adds that, while it believes the EU courts will determine the cap to be illegal, the carrier has “no long-term certainty” over capacity at Dublin beyond the upcoming summer.
