The cap was imposed by Fingal County Council as a condition for building T2. T2 at the time was widely regarded as a white elephant and the 32 million cap was probably thought to be pie-in-the-sky. Now we have both terminals bursting at the seams with no signs of demand easing as the Irish economy goes from strength to strength and increased opportunities from a second, longer runway.

I also seem to remember EI was the darling of IAG in the past when it had highest ROI. It was brought up lean, having FR competing in its backyard. What has changed? Have high Irish salaries started to take an effect?

There are the options to grow Aer Lingus UK in Manchester or even in Belfast (only 90 mins from DUB by motorway) or to grow the other Irish ports in ORK, SNN and NOC. EI needs to preserve the capacity to bounce back if the cap is lifted in DUB.