Dublin Airport
North Runway
What’s new for the North Runway?
February 2026: The Joint Committee on Transport has called for public submissions on the General Scheme of the Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026. The Bill would empower the Minister for Transport to remove or amend the 32 million passenger cap, and would prevent any future cap from being imposed. The closing date for submissions is 27 February 2026. NRTG has made a detailed submission and has requested a public hearing. Our submission is available [here].
October 2025: DAA has acknowledged that its efforts to secure planning permission for a higher passenger cap through the normal planning process have not succeeded. The 2007 Terminal 2 permission included a condition limiting Dublin Airport to 32 million passengers per annum. Despite 18 years in which to prepare a compliant application for the supporting infrastructure needed to raise that cap, DAA has not obtained the necessary planning approvals. Its December 2024 omnibus infrastructure application was returned by Fingal County Council with 375 material deficiencies.
In response, the Government has chosen to address the cap through primary legislation rather than through the planning system. Minister Darragh O’Brien has brought forward the Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026, which would give the Minister power to remove or amend the passenger limit. The Minister has noted that DAA will continue to progress its infrastructure planning application and has committed to establishing a Stakeholder Forum to facilitate that process. NRTG welcomes the concept of a Stakeholder Forum and would expect it to include meaningful representation from the residential communities directly affected by airport operations – not only aviation industry participants and State bodies.
It remains to be seen what practical effect the new legislation will have. In the meantime, a number of DAA board members are approaching the end of their terms. This presents the Minister with an opportunity to appoint directors with relevant technical qualifications in aviation, environmental management, or infrastructure — expertise that is currently absent from the board. Strong corporate governance at DAA would be a significant step toward resolving many of the issues described on this site.
The underlying issue
Dublin Airport Authority is operating departure routes from the North Runway that do not comply with its 2007 planning permission. Aircraft are executing turns at approximately 400 feet above ground level, resulting in a 335% increase in the number of households directly overflown compared to what was assessed during the planning process.
This site began as a way to explain how the technical aviation problems with the North Runway could be fixed — and those solutions remain available. However, it has become clear that the obstacle to resolution is not technical. Technically feasible solutions have been proposed since 2023 and are documented in detail on this site and in our YouTube video.
The core issue is one of governance and accountability. The solutions exist. What is needed is the willingness to implement them.
How to fix the problem
After 20 years of design, development, getting planning permission and building the runway, at the last minute DAA changed the departure track so 100% of departures fly over where 30,000 people live while climbing with full power and maximum noise. None of those people were involved in the planning process because the airplanes were never supposed to go there. DAA calls this people being “unexpectedly overflown”. They said “Ooops, sorry” and continue breaking the law with every single airplane that takes off from the North Runway.
There are 2 changes that DAA can make to the Runway 28R and 28L tracks that will fix the problem and result in the airport having capacity to increase the number of flights it can handle. This also has the benefit of complying with the existing planning permission. Scroll down for the non-technical explanation or read about it here …
Our Proposal in short
- Missed approach for 28L: straight ahead to DAP then turn 30 degrees left. Continuous climb to 4000ft then route east and back around – basically a variation on the 10L missed approach.
- Departures from 28R climb straight ahead 1.9 nautical miles, turn 10 degrees right and climb for 8 nautical miles before any turns.
By it’s nature the proposal includes plenty of aviation jargon. If you’re not an aviation nerd you may not recognize all the terminology or understand some of how runways work. Please have a look in the Aviation Technical section of Runway Information
What's the deal with the North Runway?
Aircraft Noise
"Aircraft are noisy ... you should expect noise if you live near the airport!" So how much is OK and what does "near the airport" mean to you?
Motorway in the Sky
"It's all very complicated" they say, well not really. Departure tracks are basically motorways in the sky: the big difference is you can change them without concrete and digging equipment ...
Planning Permission
It's all very boring until someone wants to build a pig farm next to your house. What's the deal with the planning permission for the North Runway?