Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (23 Dec) slammed the decision by the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) to allow Dublin Airport to increase its charges to passengers by up to 45% by 2026 (including inflation). 

Dublin Airport passengers already endured long queues at Dublin Airport last summer with poor terminal facilities due to mismanagement of the return to passenger growth. CAR has inexplicably rewarded Dublin Airport with a price hike despite the fact that other airports are reducing charges as they try to recover lost traffic post-Covid and drive passenger growth (e.g., Barcelona, Madrid, Porto and Faro).

This unwarranted price increase at Dublin Airport is driven by excessive operating costs and a €3bn+ set of ‘gold plated’ capital investment projects, including an unnecessary €200m tunnel, which airline customers and passengers don’t want yet will be forced to pay for over the next 4 years. To drive connectivity and tourism growth, the Irish economy needs expanded low cost, efficient facilities with shorter security queues rather than unnecessary tunnels that go nowhere.

Ryanair’s CEO, Eddie Wilson, said:
“CAR is once again fuelling DAA’s “tunnel vision” at the expense of airline customers and passengers by allowing Dublin Airport to increase its charges by up to 45% by 2026, and with no benefit to passenger’s or Ireland’s tourism recovery.

The DAA should be putting less time and money into wasteful vanity projects, like the proposed €200m taxiway tunnel, and instead, use these resources to deliver lower prices, more capacity and better facilities for passengers to be able to get through security without waiting in lengthy queues, grab a decent cup of coffee and relax in a comfortable seat while they wait to board their low fare Ryanair flight.

It is not too late for Dublin Airport to come to its senses and abandon some of the wasteful projects behind this 45% price increase (like the €200m tunnel), and instead deliver the capacity required to boost Ireland’s tourism and economy.

We now call on the incoming DAA CEO, Kenny Jacobs, to review all projects his predecessors promoted in recent years and scrap those which do nothing for service quality for passengers or capacity for the Irish economy, and which only serve to drive up Dublin Airport’s revenues at the expense of airline customers and passengers.”