US government could ‘retaliate’ over Dublin Airport passenger cap, airlines say

Dublin Airport’s passenger cap is a “direct threat to one of the world’s best partnerships”, the chief executive of an organisation representing US airlines has said, and could lead to “retaliatory” measures from the US government.

Appearing before the Joint Committee on Transport on Wednesday, Chris Sununu, head of Airlines for America, said Washington views the passenger cap as a “violation” of the Open Skies agreement.

The committee is considering a Bill which would allow the Irish Government to amend or revoke a planning condition that caps passenger numbers at Dublin Airport at 32 million, and would prevent such a cap being imposed by a planning condition in the future.

The EU-US Open Skies agreement came into effect in 2008 and provides for all transatlantic routes to be opened up to EU and US airlines.

The agreement is “very clear”, Mr Sununu said, “you allow unfettered, unlimited access to the capacity of the airport”.

He said the passenger cap does not allow for this.

“This airport could take 40 million people, but you’re saying no, we’re going to limit it, we’re going to violate that open free access.”

Mr Sununu said: “If you think this administration is going to have one of their bilateral agreements, that has been in place a long time, violated, and they are just going to take it, in case you haven’t read the headlines, that is not what these guys do.

“If we lose flights over here, you’d likely lose flights over there.”

He said the “ability to go back and forth easily” would come to a “screeching halt”.

Airlines for America represents passenger and cargo carriers including American Airlines, Delta, FedEx and UPS.

Mr Sununu added that he had been to the White House in the past week and there have been “active conversations” between US airlines and their country’s administration about the passenger cap.

The committee’s chairman, Michael Murphy, said: “It is your position that the threat of US retaliation has been discussed, that that threat is real, and concrete measures like restricting Aer Lingus access have been explicitly discussed?”

Mr Sununu replied “Yes.”

He said: “No country puts more in terms of direct foreign investment into Ireland,” but “no country will take as immediate retaliation effects as the United States probably would”.

That retaliation could come “in a variety of different means” he said.

He warned of “a domino effect” and said if “businesses can’t get back and forth” to Ireland “they are going to start pulling their money out, that would be terrible, think about all the jobs that would be affected”.

He continued: “You know who wants to see this passenger cap in place more than anyone else? The Brits.

“You will get a thank you note from the UK Government as soon as you keep this in place.

“They love it because all the planes are going there, all the opportunities are going there.”

Fianna Fail’s Cathal Crowe asked Mr Sununu to withdraw his claim that Ireland had “violated” the agreement, saying that Ireland had capacity at other airports for US airlines.

The Green Party leader also questioned whether a “violation” of the agreement has been established by any court.

Following the committee, Roderic O’Gorman issued a statement saying Mr Sununu’s comments amounted to “scaremongering”.

Mr O’Gorman said: “I take exception to the Open Skies agreement being wielded as a stick by airlines against the Oireachtas, with the implied threat of the Trump regime being conjured to put pressure on Irish lawmakers to pass this Bill as quickly as possible.

“When asked to share the legal basis for these arguments, they only referred to their own submissions to the committee.

“Airlines for America were presenting their own opinion as legal fact. This doesn’t stand up to any sort of scrutiny.”