Restrictions on night flights at Dublin Airport could see flights diverted to Shannon,  Eoghan Corry has said. 

When Dublin Airport applied for planning permission for its second runway, planning permission was granted on the grounds there would be an average of 65 flights per night.

The airport is currently exceeding that number and Fingal County Council has ordered it to comply with planning permission conditions within a six week period.

On The Pat Kenny Show, travel expert Eoghan Corry said the order has put the airport in a difficult position.

“I’m not exactly sure if they’ll have to start cancelling flights, telling returning passengers they’re going to Shannon instead of Dublin or be bussed up,” he said.

“I’m not sure whether that’s going to happen because this is going to end up with an appeal, it’s going to end up in the courts.”

North Dublin residents have been complaining for months that the noise from the airport has made their lives a misery.

One local said the noise was “affecting my mental health” and another said life by the airport had become “absolute torture”.

Passengers disembark from planes at Dublin Airport. Image: Phil Crean A / Alamy

Despite this, Mr Corry said Dublin Airport is quieter than many other airports.

“Dublin Airport argued… that we’ve got our second runway to deal with peak capacity - but we do need that night capacity and we do need it kept over that level,” he said.

“They have [argued] that the way modern airports [do it is] the noise is measured - not the number of flights.

“That’s a pretty 1950s way of looking at it.

“We have two airlines with pretty modern fleets and every single new Boeing and every single Airbus has lower noise emissions.

“So, that’s what Dublin Airport has been proposing.

“They don’t exceed the number every night, it’s balanced out.”

In 2022, 28.1 million passengers travelled through Dublin Airport - a figure 15% lower than the year before the pandemic.

Yesterday, DAA CEO Kenny Jacobs said he hoped they would not have to reduce the number of flights in and out of the airport.

"It would be like increasing the number of seats in Croke Park to 100,000 but cutting the capacity for games to 50,000," he said.

"It makes no sense, and the travelling public deserves better."

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Main image: Shannon Airport.