High Court refers questions around airport cap to Europe

The High Court has agreed to refer a series of questions related to the cap on passengers at Dublin Airport to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for determination.

It follows the taking of cases by the airport operator daa, Ryanair and Aer Lingus challenging the decision by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to reduce the allocation of slots and airline seats for the winter season, in order to comply with the cap.

Proceedings were also taken by Ryanair, Aer Lingus and a group representing airlines in the US challenging the allocation of slots in the summer 2025 season.

The judicial review of the decisions were to be heard by the High Court on December 3rd, but a short time before that some of the parties asked the court to address the question of a reference of the issues to the European courts ahead of a full trial.

In his judgement issued today, Mr Justice Barry O'Donnell said having considered the matter he was satisfied a referral ahead of the full hearing of the issues was appropriate.

He said given the centrality of the EU law measures involved and the lack of any authoritative guidance on their interpretation and application, it would not be possible to resolve the proceedings without a reference to the CJEU.

He added that a reference in advance of a full trial would allow for a far more focused hearing of the issues following clarification from the CJEU.

The judge said the parties subsequently came to an agreement on the questions to be referred to Europe and having considered their proposal he agreed that it was comprehensive, appropriate and necessary.

Mr Justice O’Donnell also said that these are judicial review proceedings in which the essential facts are largely not disputed and in which there was no application for cross examination of any deponents.

He also said that arranging for a reference at this point was a more efficient use of the parties resources and court time.

Mr Justice O’Donnell said a central issue for the determination of the proceedings is the question of whether the IAA was entitled to have regard to planning conditions for Terminals 1 and 2 at Dublin Airport when making its decisions.

These limit the number of passengers per year who can use the facilities to 32 million.

He said the court also had to decide the question of the legal nature of "historic slots", which are a series of slots that an airline is entitled to under regulations where certain conditions and criteria are met.

Mr Justice O’Donnell said it has to be determined whether the IAA, as competent authority, can set coordination parameters which result in the non-allocation of such slots.

A third issue, he said, was the question of whether the slot regulation prevents an Airport Management Body from taking unilateral action to close the airport for a period of time, for the purpose of preventing the operation of allocated slots, in order to avoid a breach of the annual passenger limitation.

Last month the High Court put a stay on the IAA's summer slots decision, pending the outcome of the court challenges.

Ryanair welcomed today's decision to refer the legality of the cap to the European Court of Justice.

The airline said it was a matter of regret that it had been forced to waste time and money on the legal action.

It said the referral would allow it to add some growth capacity at Dublin Airport for summer of next year.