Frequently Asked Questions

Dublin Airport is one of the most important economic assets in the country. The airport is Ireland’s main gateway, handling 85% of all air traffic into and out of the State. It generates or facilitates 117,300 jobs and €8.3 billion worth of economic activity. 

Planning Permission for North Runway included 31 conditions. daa has consistently signaled its concerns with regard to two of these conditions due to the constraints on flight movements that would be imposed, airport-wide, once North Runway becomes operational: 

The operating restrictions will have a hugely negative influence on the airport’s current operations and its potential to develop and grow in the future. The impacts of the restrictions include:

• Increasing capacity constraints: Traffic forecasts indicate the potential for passenger throughput figures of up to 36 million by 2022 and up to 50 million by 2037. Aircraft movements are also set to increase. The existing runway network is now full for large parts of the operational day and the additional capacity that North Runway provides is required, particularly at peak periods in early morning and late evening, to service the growing demand. 
  
• Jeopardising the creation and retention of long-haul services: At 3,110m, North Runway can facilitate flights to long-haul destinations such as Africa, Asia and South America. However, attracting new long-haul services, ahead of other European airports, could be impeded due to the lack of operational flexibility the restrictions will bring. The airport is also a key gateway between Europe and North America, with transfer passenger numbers increasing by 18% to 1.8million in 2018. The operating restrictions in the 11pm to 7am period will limit scope for developing those long-haul services to North America.
  
• Impacting connectivity development: In 2018, 29.4 million people started and ended their journey at Dublin Airport, whilst a further 2.1 million passengers used the airport as a hub. An increasing proportion of long-haul passengers are seeking to connect onto early morning UK and European flights. The proposed restrictions would negatively impact opportunities for flight connections, which in turn reduces the likelihood of new routes being established.

This depends on where the house is located in relation to the airport's current and proposed flight paths, along with other factors such as the standard of insulation in the house. Details on the expected flight paths, once operations on North Runway commence, are available here.

Flight paths are the designated routes aircraft follow under the direction of Air Traffic Control (ATC). ATC in Ireland is delivered by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA-ATC). While flight paths are often shown as single lines on a map, it is not always possible for aircraft to fly exactly along that line. In practice, flight paths will vary either side of the route, within a designated flight corridor.

IAA-ATC manages aircraft for landing or take-off along specific flight paths as well as keeping aircraft at safe distances from each other in the air and on the ground. Safe movement of aircraft is a vital consideration in the development of flight paths.

Once an aircraft reaches the end of the Noise Preferential Route (NPR), normally at an altitude of 3,000 feet, a controller will turn it onto a more direct path towards its destination. Air Traffic Control can turn aircraft off NPRs below 3,000 feet for safety reasons, for example to avoid storms.

The existing flight paths follow a straight line from the end of the runway for both arrivals and departures.

For most aircraft operating from Dublin Airport, departures from all runways (except easterly departures on the existing southern runway) must maintain course straight out for five nautical miles (1 nautical mile = 1,852 metres) after take-off before commencing a turn, unless otherwise cleared by Air Traffic Control. Easterly departures on the existing southern runway must maintain course straight out for five nautical miles before commencing a turn to the north, or to six nautical miles before commencing turn to the south.

Note: Turboprop aircraft are generally turned earlier for reasons of efficiency.

Noise mapping and oversight involves multiple parties of which daa - which is designated as the noise mapping body for airports – is just one.  Responsibilities in this area include:

In June 2016 Directive 2002/30/EC was repealed and replaced by Regulation 598/2014. Regulation 598/2014 establishes the rules and procedures for the introduction of noise related operating restrictions (if required) using the Balanced Approach.  

The new Regulation reinforces the requirement for airports and competent authorities to apply the Balanced Approach when considering the introduction of noise related operating restrictions at airports. Such operating restrictions should only be introduced if the noise abatement objective of the airport cannot be met through the other Balanced Approach measures (Reduction at source, Land-use Planning and Operating Procedures). The Regulations also introduce a more stringent definition for 'marginally complaint' Chapter 3 aircraft. 

Dublin Airport is always striving to minimise the negative impacts on the environment associated with its operations and its evolving growth. Since 2009, the airport has actively participated in the voluntary Airport Carbon Accreditation Scheme and has consistently achieved reductions in carbon emissions since entering the programme.  The airport is now aiming to achieve carbon neutral status by 2020 under the scheme. 

Dublin Airport manages and reduces its own direct emissions in line with its obligations under the various national and EU energy efficiency and carbon regulations. 

However, due to the international dimension of aviation, the control of international aircraft emissions is at supra national level.  Aircraft emissions from flights between countries within EU/EEA (European Economic Area) area are included within the EU Emissions Trading Scheme which is one of the parcel of measures identified by EU to achieve a 20% reduction in CO2 by 2020 and a 40% reduction by 2030. 

In recognition of the need to help manage the growth in international aircraft emissions, agreement on a global Carbon Off-Setting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) was reached in ICAO on 6 October 2016. Ireland, as part of the 44 member states of the European Civil Aviation Conference, has made a declaration to adhere to the international scheme from its first implementation phase from 2021. 

The off-setting scheme proposed by ICAO will enable carbon neutral growth from 2020 and as such will result in airlines paying to off-set their additional carbon emissions through the purchase of carbon credits. This means that airlines can grow but the additional carbon emissions will be off-set and paid for by the airlines. daa fully supports the adoption of such a scheme.

This CORSIA scheme is one of the measures supported by the international aviation industry to address the climate change challenges. Since 2009, the aviation sector has had a common set of ambitious and robust targets to mitigate CO2 emissions from air transport:

The industry has been taking impressive collaborative efforts to meet these goals, with representatives from airlines, airports, air traffic management and the manufacturing sector all taking part in the process. 

In March 2017 ICAO also adopted a new aircraft CO2 emissions standard which will reduce the impact of aviation greenhouse gas emissions on the global climate. The standard will apply to all new aircraft type designs from 2020 and to aircraft type designs already in-production as of 2023. Those in-production aircraft that do not meet the standard by 2028 will no longer be able to be produced unless their designs are sufficiently modified.

Dublin Airport has more than 1,600 local, urban, national bus and coach movements per day and is the country’s largest bus station. A Mobility Management Plan for the airport is in place which specifies how we address staff and passenger access to the airport and sets out measures to increase use of sustainable transport modes. The airport is fully supportive of the introduction of a metro system for the airport. 

Fuel dumping rarely occurs at Dublin Airport, and only takes place in emergencies, under the strict control of the Air Navigation Service Provider (IAA-ANSP).

The EU Directive 598/2014 has endorsed the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) concept of a Balanced Approach to aircraft noise management. The National Aviation Policy (NAP) for Ireland, published in 2015, states that Ireland will implement a Balanced Approach to noise management at Irish Airports and Dublin Airport is abiding by this policy. The approach incorporates four key elements to the mitigation of noise levels at airports:

Reduction of Noise at Source - Quieter Aircraft 

Noise Abatement Operational Procedures

At Dublin Airport we have worked closely with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) on noise abatement procedures to minimise the effects of aircraft noise on local communities which include:  

There is no requirement for Compulsory Purchase Orders to facilitate the construction of North Runway. The new runway is being constructed on the airport's own land bank. 

A package comprising of some or all of the following measures will be available as part of the scheme: double or secondary glazing for all windows and external doors, attic insulation comprising of layers of insulation, and acoustic solutions for vents and chimneys. 

Option 7B is a preferred runway concept, which was agreed as part of the 2007 runway planning permission to lessen the impact of aircraft noise on local communities.

Mode of operation 7B provides that:

Most of the time the two runways at Dublin Airport will be operated in segregated mode, i.e. one runway for all arrivals, the other for all departures.  However, there will be occasions during peak hours when runways will need to operate in mixed mode, i.e. both runways used simultaneously for arrivals and departures. For safety and aircraft separation reasons, international standards for mixed mode operations require that aircraft courses diverge by at least 15°, approximately one nautical mile after take-off.

During the 2016 daa Consultation on Flight Paths and Change to Permitted Operations, feedback was received from the public which indicated that there is a preference for the scenario which involves: 'Straight out on south runway; split divergence of 15° and 75° on departures for North Runway depending on ultimate destination of the aircraft'. This preferred option has been shared with the IAA-ANSP (Air Navigation Service Provider), which has overall responsibility for airspace design. 

Efforts to enhance runway capacity have been ongoing at Dublin Airport for many years. The Runway Process Improvement Group, comprising of the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), based-airlines and Dublin Airport Operations, has a remit to increase runway capacity at Dublin Airport.

Specialist consultancy and analysis is undertaken by NATS Analytics, which conducted a detailed capacity assessment in 2013. This has formed the basis of a multi-year work programme to incrementally increase runway capacity.

As a result of the work of the Runway Process Improvement Group and NATS Analytics, Dublin Airport was able to accommodate 35 departures in the peak hour of the morning in time for summer 2016 (two years earlier than planned). A similar number of departures were accommodated in the peak hour in summer 2017. This was achieved by reducing separation between successive departures and the implementation of Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM). These efforts also involved negotiating with the UK's en-route Air Navigation Service Provide (ANSP) in relation to reduced in-flight separation trails when entering UK airspace.  It is anticipated that the maximum number of departing aircraft that could be achieved in the peak morning hour, given the need to allow runway time for aircraft arriving, is 39.