News breaking earlier today confirms The DAA has been misleading the public when it claimed the need to divert from original flight path due to safety concerns. The SMTW Forum has issued a statement by The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).
” They the IAA have confirmed that they did not specify Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to have a divergent departure flightpath off the new North Runway for “safety” reasons. For 2.5 years the DAA have been misleading the public across the media that IAA made them use this flightpath for “safety” reasons.
Now with the release of the IAA submission to An Bord Pleanála for the Relevant Action, the public and other authorities are finally getting the truth. In their submission, the IAA clearly state: “The IAA did not specify any such requirement”
We applaud the Irish Aviation Authority for giving a clear transparent detailed account on this flightpath matter that has caused huge outcry in communities in Fingal & Meath since the day the North Runway opened in 2022.”
daa has responded to the issue citing the safety and issued the following statement to Meath Live;
” This makes clear the airspace safety requirements are set down by the ICAO. The paths which aircraft fly when taking off from North Runway were developed and designed by experts to align with international safety regulations. They were subsequently examined in detail and approved by the IAA in its role as regulator. I note in the IAA’s submission there is the following text which refers to commentary in the ABP inspector’s report:
The IAA also notes the following commentary at paragraph 12.6.112:
‘The IAA requirement to change the flight routes from the NR is raised as one of the greatest concerns in the third-party submissions. The applicant has repeatedly stated that this is a safety issue. No submissions have been received from the IAA in relation to this requirement.’
As above, the need for the divergence is a safety issue as set down by ICAO. It’s not clear to me why the ABP inspector would expect a submission from IAA on this (as IAA point out themselves). It also seems to be the inspector’s assertion that it was an IAA requirement to change the flight path – or at least that third-parties making submission asserted that – not daa’s assertion.”
Also making it into the news is the DAA failing to disclose accuracy on the number of passengers at the airport. Niamh Maher issued the following statement on behalf of SMTW the FORUM, ” Did DAA passengers numbers go up or down in January 2025…initially the DAA published they went down 1% but now after being spotted this didn’t tally with numbers published in January, they have had to concede they went up 1%. Why is the rhetoric to believe exactly whatever the DAA say as gospel? There is evidence time and time again that this is not the case.”
daa also challenged the numbers of passengers stating ”The passenger numbers for January 2025 initially posted online contained a typo – a genuine mistake that was rectified within minutes of going live after being spotted internally by a member of the daa team.”
