DAA, has formally issued tender documentation inviting bids to design and build a new 3.1km runway parallel to, and to the north of, the existing main runway at Dublin Airport.
The airport authority expects to award the contract and issue a commencement notice to the successful bidder next April and preliminary works could then commence as early as next June.
DAA has placed an estimated cost of €320m on the new facility, €70m more than currently approved in higher airport charges by the aviation regulator, CAR.
Two of Dublin Airport’s most vocal local communities living next to the airport – the Ward and St Margaret’s - warned yesterday that they want the constraints attaching to the current planning permission for the new runway retained.
An Bórd Pleanála's planning permission is subject to limiting the number of flights between 11 in the evening and 7 in the morning to 65.
The DAA wants that restriction to be lifted - it says that airplanes have gotten quieter and this means that flights will cause less disruption for residents.
Dublin airport had a record-breaking year in 2015 carrying 25 million passengers and it expects to have more than 27 million pass through in this year.
