North Runway Operating Conditions

Operating Conditions

North Runway was granted planning permission in 2007, subject to 31 planning conditions.

Two of these conditions would severely reduce the future operational capacity of Dublin Airport at peak periods.

Condition 3(d) states that North Runway cannot be used for landings or take-offs between 11pm and 7am, whilst Condition 5 places a 65 movement cap right across the airfield, within the same 11pm to 7am period.

Click here to view all planning conditions attached to North Runway.

Impact

Dublin Airport and North Runway will play a critical role in supporting Ireland’s recovery in a post-Covid and post-Brexit environment. Ensuring operational flexibility at the airport is crucial. If the two conditions are not addressed, it will have far reaching consequences:

A 43% reduction in current capacity between 11pm and 7am
In 2019, between 11pm and 7am Dublin Airport was averaging over 100 aircraft movements. With the addition of North Runway, the current planning conditions would reduce this to 65 movements airport-wide. The majority of these movements occur during the peak hours of 6am to 7am and 11pm to midnight, when based airlines require capacity to get the most efficient use from their aircraft.

The importance of these peak hours is further highlighted when you take into consideration the one-hour time difference between Ireland and continental Europe.
Reduced services and routes
If the conditions are not amended, airlines will be forced to restrict a large number of their services to a shorter operating day. This means they would have to reduce the number of flights an aircraft based at Dublin could operate. This would significantly reduce the economic viability of aircraft located here.

Covid-19 has made the aviation sector extremely competitive and re-building routes and services for Ireland will be difficult. Dublin Airport is in direct competition with other European airports such as Copenhagen, Barcelona and Vienna and implementing restrictive conditions which hamper our ability to provide flexibility at key peak hours, will curtail our ability to compete with larger hub airports. A route lost to Dublin Airport is a route lost to Ireland.

Increased fares
Due to viability concerns, fewer aircraft may operate from Dublin Airport. Fewer aircraft mean fewer services and most likely, increased fares on those routes which remain.

Negative economic impacts
Analysis undertaken in relation to the economic impact of the two conditions, indicates that their implementation will result in a loss of 1.1 million passengers by 2025 (and a cumulative loss of 4.3 million passengers between 2022 and 2025), almost 3,500 jobs and over €250m Gross Value Added (GVA) to the Irish economy.

Based on the current distribution of jobs and economic impact, it is anticipated that 86% of the forgone direct employment and 26% of the forgone total employment (direct, indirect, induced and catalytic impacts) will be felt in the Fingal region.

Addressing the Conditions

daa submitted a planning application to Fingal County Council on 18 December, 2020 in relation to the two conditions.

The application is not seeking to remove the conditions. Instead, following extensive consultation with our local communities and stakeholders, daa is seeking to amend and replace them with proposals that provide operational flexibility for growth, while ensuring the overall noise effects will not exceed those in 2018.

Our proposals, in short, are:

to only use North Runway from 6am to midnight, rather than 7am to 11pm as set out in the current planning conditions
introduce a Noise Quota Count system from 11.30pm to 6am, rather than an airport-wide 65 cap from 11pm to 7am as set out in the current planning conditions
introduce a noise insulation grant scheme for those most impacted by the proposed amendments
introduce an enhanced noise monitoring framework

These proposals seek to deliver a balanced approach that serves the needs of a developing international airport and economy, whilst safeguarding local communities with appropriate mitigation measures and monitoring.

Find Out More

daa has undertaken a series of public information and consultation events in relation to addressing the two conditions. Detailed information can be found by following the links below.