Certain flights should be transferred to regional airports, including Shannon, Cork, Kerry and Ireland West (Knock) in order to reduce pressure on Dublin Airport, according to the chief executive of Limerick Chamber, Dee Ryan.
Earlier, Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton announced over €16 million in funding for the State's regional airports as part of a scheme to boost safety and security and to allow the airports to invest in capital projects.
Although Ms Ryan welcomed the announcement, she said the department should also compel the DAA, which operates Dublin and Cork Airport, to work with other airports around the country to ensure passenger delays are avoided.
Over the past number of weeks, passengers travelling from Dublin Airport have faced significant delays at security due to staff shortages.
Ms Ryan said transferring some flights to other airports which have "significant spare capacity" would relieve the issues in Dublin and benefit regional airports, "particularly as the Covid recovery in airports outside the capital is happening at a much slower pace".
Ms Ryan added the capacity issues at Dublin Airport "demonstrate yet again the need for an urgent overhaul of aviation policy".
Monopoly
"Aviation policy needs to have an all-Ireland approach as distinct from a Dublin Airport-centric one," she said.
"There is an obvious solution here and that is to make use of the spare capacity of airports in other regions.
"If Dublin Airport won’t do this, the Department of Transport should step in and compel it to open conversations with Shannon, Cork, Knock and Kerry airports with a view to using their spare capacity.
“Not one of those airports are near capacity at present. Prior to Covid they were not near capacity, and they are still significantly off their pre-pandemic passenger numbers.
"So, right now they can alleviate the pressure on Dublin Airport and its staff, provide an important boost to business at those airports and a more comfortable experience for the travelling public."
Ms Ryan added Dublin Airport's "monopoly" is "way out of sync with international norms".
"The only silver lining in this cloud might be that the Department of Transport finally has its eyes opened to just how imbalanced aviation is in Ireland," she said.
"The State must intervene with policies to direct or incentivise route connectivity to regional airports, as has happened in other EU countries, and begin to address Dublin Airports’ severe and unhealthy monopoly on Irish aviation, in the best interest of passengers, other airports and development of the regions."
