Ryanair has launched a £200,000 publicity campaign to gain support for its campaign for lower landing charges at Dublin Airport.
Passengers flying with the lowcost airline will be requested to fill out a "flyer", designed as a ballot paper, where a Ryanair "vote" is for more routes, increased passenger traffic, more tourists and more jobs. The Aer Rianta "vote" is for the opposite of these. As an inducement, a free weekend in New York for two is on offer. Aer Rianta, the State-owned company which manages Dublin Airport, has stated it is phasing out over the next five years its Traffic Incentive Scheme which offers rebates to airlines on their landing charges. This is as a result of a loss of income from the expected ending of intra-EU duty free sales next June.
For Ryanair, the rebate scheme amounted to about £2 per arriving and departing passenger in 1997, totalling £5.89 million or 31 per cent of its total airport charges cost of £18.89 million. Total operating costs were £149.5 million. A Dail question revealed last July that the airline received near £23 million in rebates from Aer Rianta over the past four years.
The Ryanair chief executive, Mr Michael O'Leary, said the latest development in the campaign against landing charges was to make it more broadly-based public one "to support our case for lower charges and lower fares at Dublin Airport".
"I think we have to get the public voice, to bring to the consumer's attention this campaign because that is what we need to influence the politicians. When the public makes its views known, the politicians tend to listen."
Mr Flan Clune, Aer Rianta's public relations manager, said yesterday that Ryanair was paying almost 50 per cent more on average for landing charges at other airports. The airline had paid £5.89 million for the 42 per cent of its traffic at Aer Rianta airports, and £13 million for the remaining 58 per cent of its traffic at other airports in 1997.
"Traffic is going to grow by 1.2 million passengers this year. Just 0.2 million of that is from Ryanair. Ryanair is part of the growth but no longer the total part," he added.
