Aer Rianta is to seek a fivefold increase in landing charges at its airports in an attempt to improve its deteriorating financial position, its chairman Mr Noel Hanlon indicated yesterday.

Mr Hanlon said current landing charges of €2 per passenger were not enough and charges of up to €10 per passenger were needed if Aer Rianta was not to slip further into debt.

He said charges of €8-€10 per passenger were the norm across Europe.

Airports regulator Mr Bill Prasifka is likely to conduct a review of airport charges in August, and Aer Rianta's demands would have to be examined and approved by him. It is likely such increases would be fiercely opposed by airlines such as Aer Lingus and Ryanair.

Mr Hanlon's colleague, chief executive Mr John Burke, said the financial problems at the company were simple.

He said the company's debt was nearing €400 million and it needed to spend €100 million a year on investment, but with landing charges frozen at €2 per passenger "you can see the problem", he said.

The company reported profits before exceptional items of €31 million for 2002, similar to the previous year. Turnover overall was down to €427 million from €441 million the year before.

In a bullish presentation of the company's results for 2002, Mr Hanlon reiterated his opposition to plans by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, for a privately owned terminal at Dublin Airport.

He also took issue once more with Ryanair chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary, who organised a hearse and coffin to pull up outside the Merrion Hotel where Aer Rianta was presenting its results. Mr O'Leary said it represented the death of the Irish tourist industry, which was being damaged by Aer Rianta's monopoly at the airport.

However, Mr Hanlon poured scorn on the Ryanair stunt. "You wouldn't see the likes of it in Duffy's circus," he said.

He added that Ryanair had "seen off" other low-fare airlines, such as Go, from the Irish market.

Mr Hanlon said Mr Brennan's plans would not work and he understood union fears that jobs could be lost if Ryanair or Aer Lingus transferred most of their operations to the new terminal.

He said the decision was Mr Brennan's but the value of Aer Rianta would be dissipated if the terminal and the break-up plans went ahead.

Mr Burke said Aer Rianta had not been presented with detailed plans by Mr Brennan on either matter. Mr Burke and Mr Hanlon warned that the three airports could be left with high levels of debt if they were broken up.

Mr Hanlon said Aer Rianta would proceed with Pier D as part of its statutory remit to develop and modernise Dublin Airport. However, he conceded that if Mr Brennan told the company to postpone the project it would have to accept this.

Mr Hanlon said that, while 2003 should see some recovery in airline traffic numbers, other parts of the company's business had a more uncertain future.

The Great Southern Hotel chain made an after-tax profit of €3.9 million, a 20 per cent increase on 2001, but Mr Hanlon signalled that the hotels were still on the market.