DAA warns on Dublin Airport's limitations

Tuesday, 20 June 2006

The Dublin Airport Authority needs to charge passengers a €7.50 tariff to ensure improvements planned for Dublin Airport are finished on time.

The DDA told the Oireachtas Transport Committee today that the current maximum tariff charge of just over €6 is too low.

Construction on a new terminal and runway at the airport is planned to begin next May and should be completed within 30 months.

Unless there is a new runway built at the airport, the DAA's CEO Declan Collier said they will have to turn planes away sometime between 2010 and 2012.

The DAA also told the committee that the sale of the Great Southern Hotels should be completed before the end of the year.

Also at that meeting, DAA chairman Gary McGann said that Shannon Airport was currently not financially viable and it would therefore take longer than originally thought to separate it from the control of the Dublin Airport Authority.

Under the State Airports Act, which broke up Aer Rianta, a viable business plan for each of the three state airports had to be demonstrated before they could function independently.

He said that military flights using Shannon Airport were masking underlying losses at the airport.

Meanwhile, the new terminal building at Cork Airport is due to open in July the Committee also heard today.