The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has published its 2025 Annual Report, painting a picture of a growing but increasingly complex aviation sector in Ireland. With traffic rising, regulatory responsibilities expanding, and major infrastructure and policy issues in play, the report highlights both strong performance and significant challenges ahead.
Irish aviation continued its post-pandemic recovery in 2025, with passenger numbers reaching 44 million across Ireland’s six international airports. The IAA itself reported a solid financial performance, with turnover of €46 million and profit after tax of €6.1 million, a notable increase from 2024 when profit after tax was recorded as €1.9 million. The organisation remains self-funded, operating without Exchequer support, and employed just over 200 staff during the year.
At a structural level, the IAA continues to act as Ireland’s single aviation regulator, overseeing safety, security, consumer protection, and economic regulation across the industry. This follows the merging of activities from the Commission for Aviation Regulation, which was integrated into the IAA under the Air Navigation and Transport Act 2022.
As expected, safety remains front and centre in the report. The IAA emphasises that Ireland continues to operate to the highest international safety standards under ICAO, EASA and EU frameworks. 2025 did see one fatal general aviation accident, currently under investigation by the AAIU. The State Safety Programme continues to evolve, with 57 ongoing safety actions identified across different operational areas.
The report underlines the size of the general aviation and emerging sectors:
- General aviation fleet: 628 aircraft
- Aircraft register: 1,467 total aircraft
- Drone operators: 9,000+
- Remote pilot certificates: 23,000+
Drone activity continues to expand rapidly, with the IAA involved in integration projects and regulatory development alongside European partners. Meanwhile, the broader aviation system faces a skills shortage, especially in maintenance engineers and pilots, with training costs and apprenticeship bottlenecks highlighted as ongoing concerns.
Dublin Airport Passenger Cap
According to the report, the issue of Dublin Airport’s passenger cap of 32 million per year remains high on the agenda. The IAA has been directly involved in legal proceedings regarding how this cap should affect slot allocation, with the matter referred to the European Court of Justice. While a final ruling is pending, the Irish Government has signalled its intention to address the cap through the proposed Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026. For pilots and operators, this debate has real implications for future connectivity, airline growth, and the overall strategic direction of Irish aviation.
The report goes into detail on the breadth of IAA activity, including:
- Oversight of 16 Irish air carriers
- Licensing of pilots, engineers and organisations
- Regulation of airport charges and slot allocation
- Monitoring air passenger rights and accessibility
- Oversight of aviation security and cyber resilience
In 2025, the IAA also introduced a major digital transformation initiative, moving many licensing and certification processes online via the new MySRS platform. The financial accounts indicate that the platform has cost in the region of €6.5 million to develop so far, with only limited services supported such as invoicing, aircraft registration, some airworthiness functions and drones. Feedback from industry has been mixed, with users reporting a clunky interface and poor functionality on mobile devices.
Passenger Rights and Consumer Protection
Consumer protection remains a growing area of work. The IAA handled 2,883 passenger complaints in 2025, recovering over €1.1 million in refunds and compensation. The majority of complaints related to delays and cancellations under EU261 regulations.
Sustainability
The report highlights aviation’s environmental challenge, particularly the transition to sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). EU legislation now requires SAF blending starting at 2% in 2025, rising steadily to 70% by 2050. The IAA has established a dedicated sustainability function and is working with government and industry to develop Ireland’s SAF roadmap. However, this week it was revealed that Ireland has come under fresh scrutiny, with the European Commission initiating infringement proceedings over delays in fully implementing the ReFuelEU regulation. At this point in time, it’s unclear whether the proceedings will affect the IAA.
The full report is available to read here.
