The operator of Dublin Airport earned a €700,000 bonus from regulators for improving service standards last year.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), awarded the airport a €4.5 million bonus last year for improvements to service. However, it also docked it €3.8 million for not meeting targets on cleanliness of its toilets and lapses in information on ground transport.
Consequently, Dublin Airport earned a net €700,000 bonus from the regulator for its service performance last year.
State company DAA, which operates the airport, will not collect the bonus directly. Instead it is factored into the passenger charges that the company levies on airlines.
The IAA set the airport’s maximum charge per passenger for last year at €9.54. If DAA collected more than this last year, it must repay the excess to the airlines.
The authority noted that “cleanliness of washrooms” was below targets set for the airport in 2024.
Information on ground transport in the airport was also below the required standard. Both lapses resulted in overall penalties of 5 cent a passenger.
However, it earned a bonus of 13 cent a-passenger for meeting targets for passenger assistance wait times, ease of movement, flight information, wifi and overall satisfaction.
Dublin incurred a €6.7 million bill in 2023 for poor cleanliness of bathrooms and terminals, although DAA noted that much of this dated back before it began an improvement programme.
DAA said it would take on board the need to further improve washroom cleanliness and ground transport information. “Security queue times improved further again last year ,” the company said.
A statement added that all Dublin Airport staff worked hard to continually raise standards and welcomed the bonuses earned in several areas. “We’re committed to investing in infrastructure and services to continually improving the experience of passengers at Dublin Airport,” DAA said.
