February was a tale of differing fortunes for Ireland’s two largest airports, for while Cork Airport continued to grow strongly, the passenger cap continued to restrict Dublin Airport.

Cork Airport welcomed a total of 203,466 passengers in February, marking an increase of 6% compared to the same month last year. In contrast, passenger numbers at Dublin Airport were down by 0.5% compared to February 2024 with just under 2.1 million passengers.

Both airports were busy in February with inbound and outbound sports fans travelling to Six Nations rugby matches, and many people took advantage of the school mid-term break, Valentine’s Day and the St Brigid’s bank holiday weekend for short breaks.

Both airports are operated by daa, whose CEO, Kenny Jacobs, commented: “The opening months of 2025 have starkly highlighted the impact of having an out-of-date passenger cap on Ireland’s main gateway. Figures from the Central Statistics Office show a very worrying -25% drop in the number of tourists that visited Ireland in January.

“Due to the passenger cap, Dublin Airport is an outlier among other European airports, recording stagnant passenger numbers in the opening months of 2025 while other capital city airports are experiencing strong growth.

“Operationally, Dublin Airport had a strong February. Security screening moved really well with 98% of passengers through in under 20 minutes and 89% of first-wave departures leaving on time. However, it was the third month running of flat or declining passenger numbers year-on-year, despite strong demand from both passengers and airlines to fly in and out of Dublin.

“Passengers and airlines are looking enviously across the Irish Sea, where the UK government is actively supporting the expansion of all London Airports, with a focus on accelerating their planning system to build for the UK’s future.

“We welcome the fresh commitments by both Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister Darragh O’Brien that government will “do everything it can” to lift the passenger cap. We need the passenger cap removed in the next six months and we need turbocharged planning that gives faster decisions and allows daa to add new terminal capacity.

“If we remain stuck in the existing planning process and timelines then it will take years. We believe that every solution should be on the table as we look to unblock this impasse to protect connectivity, tourism and jobs. We have shared some new solutions with the Minister, including following the UK model where central Government has taken control of planning decisions on critical transport infrastructure to deliver faster decisions.

“Whether it’s the Taoiseach, the general public, airlines or the business community, it is widely accepted that the passenger cap needs to go.”