Airline chief: 'On a purely commercial decision, you wouldn’t re-tender for Donegal'

The operator of the Donegal-Dublin flights has confirmed that the company may not re-tender for the contract if the route is not exempted from plans to limit seat capacity at Dublin Airport.

The Irish Aviation Authority will limit seat capacity a Dublin Airport to 25.2 million next summer - one million fewer seats than this year - in a bid to keep the airport within its 32 million passenger cap in a year.

The upshot would be an approximate reduction of 5% for carriers.

Conor McCarthy, the founder of Emerald Airlines who is the Chairman at Dublin Aerospace Ltd, has confirmed that they have called on Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan to remove the Public Service Obligation (PSO) routes from the passenger cap.

“We have been told to plan on the basis of 5% less seats,” he told Upfront with Katie Hannon on Monday night. “We have asked the Minister to remove this route from the cap so that we don’t have to consider it.”

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The PSO flights have been operated by Emerald Airlines, on behalf of Aer Lingus, since 2022 and the carrier operates 28 flights a week between Donegal Airport and Dublin. However, that will be reviewed if this route is not exempted from the passenger cap.

The current contact is up at the end of February, 2025 and while Emerald Airline has an option to extend that by another year, Mr McCarthy confirmed that he was not certain if that would happen.

“We are being told to take a commercial decision to consider what routes we will serve,” he said. “If I look at routes coldly: Where is the lowest load factor where the percentage of seats filled is lowest? Donegal. Where is the lowest fare route? That’s Donegal.

“On the face of a purely commercial decision, you wouldn’t re-tender for Donegal.

“We are not about to stop flying to Donegal . . . we are told we have to make a profit to stay alive, but at the same time we are told: ‘Oh, you have to cut 5% of your seats’. The very simple decision is to remove the PSO from this cap.”

Mary Coyle of Donegal Caner Flights and Services told the show that there are 430 patients who use the service - a figure that does not include carers or other people who travel alongside the patients.

“Donegal people need to travel here, these are children with long-term illness or cancer patients,” Ms Coyle said.

“It is an essential service. We are the only PSO left in the country and the reason we have this is because we live four hours by road and we have no rail service.

“This is an essential service and it is a real threat for us . . These people are ill and they need the service to continue. I have had so many phone calls from people who have appointments coming up and this is a real threat for them. They don’t need this.”

Last week, Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty raised the matter in Dáil Éireann and called for the Donegal-Dublin flight to be exempted from the passenger cap.

“It is currently the states only Public Service Obligation and it is essential that the route is not put at risk by the passenger cap at Dublin Airport,” Deputy Doherty said.

“There are currently 430 cancer patients who rely on the flight to get down to Dublin for treatment. These patients are supported by a local charity Ionad Naomh Pádraig, who provide return flights for patients and their carers. Many of these people simply cannot make the long journey to Dublin by car.”