THE OPERATOR OF Dublin Airport has said a proposal by An Bord Pleanála to lift restrictions on night-time flights contains “some significant contradictions”.

This week, An Bord Plenála published a draft decision which upheld a decision by Fingal County Council to sanction a relaxation of limits on the use of the airport’s North Runway at night-time.

This restriction had been imposed under the original grant of planning permission for the new runway, which opened in 2022.

An Bord Plenála rejected an appeal against the council’s decision by a large number of individuals, the St Margaret’s and The Ward Residents’ Group, as well as the Friends of the Irish Environment.

The proposal will allow for flights to take off and land on the North Runway for an additional two hours – from 11pm to midnight and between 6am and 7am.

However, An Bord Pleanála also proposed a condition that there should be a limit of 13,000 flights between 11pm and 6.59am per annum, with a cap of 9,100 during the summer period to allow for extra flights during the busy holiday season.

This would represent a significant decrease from the 36,000 night-time hour flights in 2023.

In a statement today, DAA said it had reviewed the draft decision and that there “appear to be some significant contradictions and DAA considers this draft decision does not reflect what was intended from this process”.

“As it stands, this decision would be a backward step that will significantly impact aviation and passenger numbers at Dublin Airport,” added the DAA spokesperson.

The spokesperson added that the “noise quota was proposed to replace the previous blunt movement cap imposed by the 2007 planning condition”.

“However, it appears from the draft decision that An Bord Pleanála has proposed a new noise quota but also imposed an overall restriction on the number of night flights that would be permitted, which would be significantly lower than the 2007 planning condition,” said DAA.

DAA said this would reduce the nighttime flights by over 60% and cause “significant implications for passengers and airlines, as well as freight operations.”