Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary issues €1,000 Christmas flights warning

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has called on Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan to instruct Dublin Airport operator DAA to ignore the ‘absurd’ passenger cap.

A 32 million passenger cap was imposed in planning regulations when the airport’s second terminal was approved.

Branding the cap ‘insane and stupid’ Mr O’Leary told Newstalk’s The Pat Kenny Show that the move will result in Ireland losing out on thousands of tourism jobs when airlines decide to cut ties with Dublin.

The CEO called on Minister Ryan to fix the cap.

‘If we had a Minister for Transport who was modestly interested in aviation or even modestly interested in economic growth and development — which his own aviation policy is at the heart of — he would fix this,’ O’Leary slammed.

If the cap was removed, the Ryanair boss estimated that as many as 40 million travellers could be passing through the airport within four years.

‘We’re opening new hotels, we’re developing new restaurants, the Wild Atlantic Way and all of these tourism facilities need continuing growth in visitor numbers,’ he said, adding that it could only be done by maintaining the low-cost air access.

Mr O’Leary told Pat Kenny that his airline would simply put the seats elsewhere if he wasn’t able to put them in Ireland.

‘But the airfares in and out of Dublin this Christmas will be €1,000 return — they’ll be €500 each way,’ he said.

The 63-year-old revealed he had pledged to put another 10 to 15 aircraft into Ireland, which would create a further 700 jobs in Ireland to Minister Ryan.

‘We haven’t heard back from him,’ O’Leary said, ‘I mean, he hasn’t even been back to say no.’

The airline is set to receive 49 new aircraft by next summer with some of them tipped to be based in Dublin on the basis the cap is lifted.

O’Leary said he asked the Transport Minister how many aircraft to put in Dublin, Cork and Shannon, but the Minister was ‘there giving a kind of gormless smile.’