Ryanair said they are moving the aircraft to airports that are incentivising airlines to grow passenger numbers with quieter and lower-emission aircraft.

However, daa hit back strongly against the airline saying that environmental incentives are set to be rolled out and that there are already support schemes available to airlines, such as the Traffic Recovery Support Scheme (TRSS) of which Ryanair is the largest beneficiary.

Daa also dismissed Ryanair’s claims that it was increasing airport charges by 45% by 2026 saying the charges are set to increase by just 6% next year.

Eddie Wilson, chief executive of Ryanair, said airports across Europe have lowered charges and implemented incentive passenger growth schemes for lower-emission aircraft and they will be moving its aircraft to airports that are offering these schemes.

These planes are expected to be moved to airports in Spain and Italy among other countries.

Mr Wilson said there are “no incentives” at Dublin Airport to grow traffic or reward investment in aircraft with lower carbon emissions and noise.

“Unlike most other EU airports, the daa is unfortunately focused on increasing passenger charges,” he said.

He added that Dublin Airport will have smaller aircraft that won’t be as fuel-efficient as a result of this decision.

The airline has accused daa of mismanagement of the airport and failing to deliver a meaningful environmental incentive scheme.

In May, the daa announced plans to cut runway charges by 25% for airlines that operate the quietest and most environmentally friendly aircraft in a bid to incentivise their uptake. It is also proposing to charge those who fly high emissions aircraft more.

However, Mr Wilson said that daa may be implementing these measures but they are increasing costs for airlines elsewhere.

“What we want the daa to do is to at least freeze charges, and put in incentives for airlines. Put in an environmental scheme,” Mr Wilson said.

Mr Wilson said the 17 routes lost this winter will be mostly to central and eastern Europe.

“That all is going to feed into less tourism, less jobs and less connectivity,” he said. 

List of routes Ryanair has cancelled from Dublin Airport this winter.

• Carcassonne, France 
• Nuremberg, Germany 
• Billund, Denmark 
• Bournemouth, UK 
• Castellón, Spain 
• Genova, Italy 
• Klagenfurt, Austria 
• Košice, Slovakia 
• Leipzig, Germany 
• Asturias, Spain 
• Plovdiv, Bulgaria 
• Palanga, Lithuania 
• Palermo, Italy 
• Sibiu, Romania 
• Santigo, Spain 
• Suceava, Romania 
• Szczecin, Poland

Mr Wilson said he expects the reduction in routes to lead to a drop in passenger numbers of 10% from Dublin this winter.

When asked about whether the reduction in routes means prices will go up, Mr Wilson said where you’ve got “less of anything and you’ve got demand, well then prices could rise”.

Earlier this year, the daa began a High Court action against the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) seeking to increase its passenger charges. Ryanair and Aer Lingus are opposing daa’s action.

Airport charges are paid by airlines for the use of airport facilities and are payable for aircraft landing, freight, and other charges relating to the use of airport infrastructure such as runways and passenger terminals. They are calculated on a per-passenger basis.

Daa were seeking to up its current €8.11 price cap to €13.68 over the next four years.

In a statement, Kenny Jacobs, chief executive of daa, said that he was “surprised and disappointed” that Ryanair were moving aircraft out of Dublin Airport as they could have paid even “lower charges” if it availed of the sustainability incentives it has proposed for 2024.

“I am baffled why any airline with sustainability ambitions would choose to turn down the opportunity to operate lower CO₂ emission and less noisy aircraft at Dublin Airport by turning down the new discount schemes,” he said.

On the incentives and supports offered to airlines at Dublin Airport, Mr Jacobs said that the TRSS scheme has facilitated the speedy 100% bounce back in activity at Dublin Airport post-covid and that it will remain in place for another 6 months.

“We can understand why Ryanair would like to see it remain in place beyond next March, but we are happy that Dublin Airport’s growth has recovered to pre-pandemic levels and we do not need to incentivise new growth given Dublin Airport has a planning capacity limit of 32 million passengers per annum,” he said.

Ryanair is also objecting to the construction of a tunnel at Dublin Airport reportedly costing over €200m which it labelled a “vanity project”.

Mr Jacobs said the building of the tunnel is “essentially a safety project” which will “contribute to effective and efficient airfield operations”.