Regulators propose cutting Dublin Airport passenger charges to €8.85 next year from €10.39, despite calls from State company DAA for an increase to fund a €5.6 billion expansion.
Airport operator DAA proposes increasing the charge, levied on airlines for the passengers they carry, to a maximum of €13 a head over the next five years to pay for an expansion it says would allow Dublin to handle 10 million more travellers every year.
However, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), which sets Dublin’s charges, proposes cutting the fee by 15 per cent next year to a maximum of €8.85 and keeping it below €9 in 2028 and 2029.
DAA will then be allowed to increase its charges to between €10 and €11 through 2030 and 2031 if it has begun work on key parts of its expansion plan.
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If no work has begun, then the authority will cut the charge to below €8. If some projects have begun and others are delayed, then Dublin will be allowed to increase charges by somewhere between €10 and €11.
Dublin’s biggest airline, Ryanair, pledged to add 2 million extra seats to its schedules next year if the authority cuts charges by 15 per cent.
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Ryanair DAC chief executive Eddie Wilson argued that lower charges would allow airlines to add new routes, maximising the benefits across Ireland, to which Dublin Airport is the main gateway.
He called on the regulator to “go further” and reject DAA’s “daft” €5.6 billion plan.
“Only low-cost, efficient investments at Dublin Airport should be allowed by the regulator, which is why Ryanair and other airlines welcome the IAA’s proposal to cut Dublin Airport’s high fees,” Wilson said.
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Ryanair warned recently that DAA’s proposal risked adding up to €20 to air fares.
Cutting charges will make it harder for Dublin Airport to sustain investment, DAA deputy chief executive Nick Cole warned.
“The proposed €1.54 reduction in the airport charge may appear small, but it has significant implications for Dublin Airport’s ability to continue investment in better facilities and services for passengers and airlines,” he said.
Cole pointed out that while current charges were among Europe’s lowest, they would support almost €300 million investment in Dublin this year, the biggest spend since it opened its second terminal in 2010.
The IAA argues that as Dublin will grow from 39.4 million passengers next year to 44.5 million by 2031, the cost of running the airport will be shared among more people.
The authority will allow Dublin to spend between €2.4 billion and €3.8 billion up to 2031, while it calculates that the airport will collect between €1.6 billion and €2 billion in revenue from airlines over that time and €2.6 billion in commercial turnover.
The projects that the regulator earmarks include adding 14 new aircraft stands to pier one, which runs from terminal one, and a new pier at terminal two.
IAA chief executive, Declan Fitzpatrick, argued that the proposed price caps would allow Dublin Airport to add “significant new infrastructure” enabling it to operate more efficiently.
The authority will decide finally on what Dublin Airport can charge airlines for passengers by the end of the year. The decision will apply up to the end of 2031.
