The maximum level of charges Aer Rianta is allowed levy on airlines has fallen once more following a review by the airport regulator Mr Bill Prasifka.

The maximum per passenger charge allowed to Aer Rianta overall will fall from €8.48 to €8.02, a drop of 5.4 per cent. The maximum Dublin Airport charge falls from €5.45 to €5.29, a cut of almost 3 per cent.

Mr Prasifka told The Irish Times that, while extra security costs and fewer passengers threatened to push up charges, various technical adjustments ultimately reduced the maximum charges.

The new set of charges will take immediate effect and will run until the end of the year. Most airlines are likely to welcome the reduction in the maximum charges, although Ryanair has dismissed the whole exercise as a waste of time.

Aer Rianta has been charging less than the maximum allowable charge at Cork and Shannon in the past few years, although the company is likely to go very close to the ceiling at Dublin Airport, where the majority of traffic is generated.

Mr Prasifka said that, in the next few years, charges were likely to reduce further but at a slower rate. He said the latest determination mainly consisted of "technical adjustments" and there were no major innovations.

As for plans by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, to break Aer Rianta into three autonomous companies, Mr Prasifka said this had no immediate impact on his office.

He said, if asked, his office would produce individual calculations for airport charges.