DAA’S €5.6BN ZERO GROWTH PLAN WILL DOUBLE AIRPORT CHARGES,ADDING €20 TO EVERY PASSENGER TICKET

Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, today (Mon, 11 May) called on Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien to dismiss the incompetent Board of the DAA, (a majority 4 out of 7 of whom are worker directors) as Dublin Airport published CapEx plans for the period 2027 to 2031, under which it proposes to waste €5.6 billion but which adds zero new passenger capacity at Dublin Airport. This is regulatory gaming at its very worst. These DAA plans, if approved, would see airport charges at Dublin double from €20 to €40 per departing passenger, adding €20 to every passenger ticket, yet delivers no additional runway or terminal traffic capacity.  

Ryanair highlighted the gross waste proposed by the DAA, which exceeds the cost of two National Children’s Hospitals, yet delivers no new runways, no new terminals or any capacity growth at Dublin Airport. Included in the DAA’s €5.6bn is over €1.5 billion solely for “inflation” and “contingencies”, some €700m to fund 14 additional gates on Ryanair’s Pier 1 (including air bridges and lounges when Ryanair doesn’t use them), and an even more absurd €670m on “maintenance” including €150m to refurbish “pavements”, €7m to plant “wildflowers”, and €490m on farcical “sustainability” projects at an international airport!! 

DAA Capex 2027-31	€M
Facilities	2,400
Contingency	870
Inflation	640
Maintenance	670
Sustainability	490
Car Park / Lounges	250
Security/Refurb	120
IT Refurb / other	170
	5,610

The Minister for Transport is responsible for Irish aviation policy, which is to provide low-cost, efficient airport facilities that will enable aviation and tourism to grow traffic on/off the island of Ireland. Doubling the DAA’s passenger fees from €20 to €40 per passenger over the next 5 years is the real objective of this wanton DAA waste – more than double the current cost of the Children’s Hospital – but it will not add any traffic capacity at Dublin Airport because it doesn’t include new terminals or new runways. This is just regulatory gaming, wasting billions on fairytale CapEx so that the DAA can double its airport fees.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said:

“The DAA’s new CapEx proposals, under which they plan to waste €5.6bn (more than double the cost of the Children’s Hospital), yet deliver no new passenger capacity, is typical of the public sector waste which this Govt is responsible for. It is this kind of stupidity that leads to wasting €400,000 on a bike shed, €1.2m on a security hut, or €2.5bn on a Children’s Hospital, and now €5.6bn refurbing facilities at Dublin Airport, which airlines don’t want and our customers won’t pay for.

Allowing a Govt monopoly to waste €5.6bn without growing any passenger capacity is regulatory gaming of the worst kind. Even the DAA can’t explain why they’re providing €640m for “inflation”, €870m for “contingencies”, wasting €170m to refurbish ‘pavements,’ or even €7m planting wildflowers in St Margarets.  The DAA have a record of mismanaging facilities at Dublin Airport, which is why the airport continues to have a passenger cap of 32m, yet the airlines current traffic is 36m. There’s no point in abolishing this 32m passenger cap at Dublin Airport if the DAA then plan to double charges and impose a higher fare/high-cost cap at Dublin Airport.

The second runway at Dublin cost just €350m, even the badly designed, poorly located T2 cost only €1.2bn, yet the Board of the DAA (which comprises 4 worker directors and 3 other nobodies) now proposes to waste €5.6bn refurbing facilities which its airline customers don’t want, and which won’t add any new traffic capacity at Dublin Airport.

The Minister should tackle this by sacking the Board of the DAA, who are clearly unfit for purpose if they sanction this criminal waste of €5.6bn while adding no incremental traffic capacity. The Dept. of Transport and its useless civil servants should now instruct the DAA to go away and come up with a new growth plan for Dublin Airport that lowers charges, stops wasting money and allows the airlines to grow traffic to 45m passenger p.a., which can be done without any of this €5.6bn (2 x National Children’s Hospitals) CapEx proposed by the DAA’s Board of worker directors.”