The airline, based in Dublin, also cautioned that if the current passenger cap at Dublin Airport remains unchanged, airlines will reduce available seats by 1 million next summer.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary argued that the 32 million passenger cap, which was imposed in 2007, is harming tourism and jobs, and contributing to rising ticket prices.

“We’re seeing €500 one-way fares this Christmas,” O’Leary told Newstalk radio. “Typically, we operate around 500,000 seats in and out of Dublin over the 10 days of Christmas. We usually increase that by about 50 percent to around 750,000 seats.”

O’Leary urged Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to step in, noting that concerns from 2007 about road traffic congestion at Dublin Airport no longer apply.

“Dublin Airport is functioning well,” he said. “What we need now is a confident transport minister to intervene and instruct the IAA to disregard the cap while the DAA seeks approval from Fingal County Council to remove it.”