Ryanair, Ireland’s favourite airline, today (Monday 30 May) rejected DAA’s application for an 88% price increase on its already high airport charges at Dublin when DAA are mismanaging the Covid-19 recovery, and stranding thousands of airport passengers in long security queues that wind outside the terminal building. There is no justification for an 88% increase in DAA’s already high airport charges, especially when Irish air traffic and tourism needs to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and can only do so with lower airport charges and lower airfares.

Dublin Airport traffic is only recovering thanks to the Government funded Traffic Recovery Scheme, which lowers charges at Dublin Airport only until the end of March 2023. The DAA is now seeking to exploit this Government Traffic Recovery Scheme by gouging its airline customers and passengers for an unjustified 88% price increase from 2023 onwards. The main excuse for this shocking price increase is an extravagant capital expenditure plan which includes ‘tunnelling’ under existing runwaysat Dublin Airport. Airline customers of the airport do not support this latest round of gold-plated building projects at Dublin Airport, which will damage the competitiveness of Irish tourism at a time when Dublin Airport needs to grow in order to take up the capacity of Dublin’s second runway. The DAA needs to manage its existing facilities and deliver an efficient service to passengers through security instead of dreaming up new expensive schemes that will drive away airline capacity, damaging Irelands recovery.  

Ryanair’s Eddie Wilson said:

“At a time when Irish air travel and tourism are struggling to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, this application by the DAA for an 88% price increase is unjustified and unwarranted. Dublin Airport has the facilities to grow traffic using the new second runway, but this growth can only be delivered with lower airport charges and lower airfares, not unnecessary gold-plated facilities such as ‘tunnels under runways’. The DAA should instead  concentrate on fixing recruitment to deliver an efficient customer service through security rather than dreaming up new charges for facilities that nobody wants and which damage tourism recovery.

The DAA have mismanaged the recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and are now seeking to jeopardise the future growth and development of Irish tourism with this price gouging application for an 88% increase in airport charges, which it seeks to justify by proposing ludicrous spending on unnecessary ‘tunnels under runways’ which Dublin’s airlines and Dublin’s passengers don’t need, and can’t pay for.

We call on the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, to protect Irish aviation, Irish tourism and the DAA itself from a traffic collapse and issue a shareholder direction to the DAA to abandon any application for cost increases at Dublin Airport.”