Ryanair is pressing the High Court to reverse a previous judgment that authorised Aer Lingus to contest Ryanair’s proposal for a €40 million aircraft servicing facility at Dublin Airport. Ryanair claims An Bord Pleanála made a mistake when permitting Aer Lingus to challenge Fingal County Council’s decision in December 2023 to greenlight the hangar, projected to support the upkeep of roughly 400 aeroplanes annually.
In Ryanair’s estimation, the proposed 120,000 sq ft hangar could provide over 200 engineering and mechanics jobs. Aer Lingus initially overlooked the chance to file their opposition when the plans were first introduced to the council. They later took advantage of section 37(6) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, filing their objections at a later stage.
Ryanair has voiced criticism over the board’s decision to approve conditions imposed by the council on the permission for the proposed hangar 7 that significantly altered its original design, supposedly upsetting Aer Lingus’s use of hangar 6 nearby.
In their appeal, Aer Lingus argued that the planned changes would severely impede their operations by limiting aircraft movements in and out of hangar 6. In contrast, Ryanair’s dispute, taken to the High Court, is focused on the board’s supposed error in ruling that the condition has forged a significant discrepancy between what was initially proposed and what has been approved.
Ryanair has accused the board of legal and factual inaccuracies in invoking section 37(6) and considering irrelevant components.
Ryanair’s associate construction director, Adrian Higgins, declared in a sworn statement that the setbacks, both past and projected, resulting from the appeal will inflict “profound”, “permanent and irreversible damage” on the company. Come Monday, Ryanair’s senior lawyer, Martin Hayden, secured the High Court’s consent to continue advancing their case.
Ryanair is seeking the court to invalidate the board’s decision from February 6th which approved Aer Lingus’s right to contest the initial planning approval. Furthermore, Ryanair insists the court should order a temporary halt to the board’s evaluation of Aer Lingus’s appeal until their own court contest is concluded.
According to a press release from April 2023, Ryanair expressed its intention to commence the building of the hangar in the last quarter of 2023, with aircraft servicing operations slated to start in early to mid-2025.