Aer Lingus has told An Bord Pleanála that the planned €40 million Ryanair maintenance facility for Dublin Airport “will have fundamental impacts on Aer Lingus’s ability to carry out their daily operations”.
That is according to an appeal lodged by consultants for Aer Lingus with the planning board that has stalleds plans by Ryanair to construct a four-bay aircraft maintenance hangar at Dublin Airport.
The planned hangar is located 820 metres northeast of Terminal 1 and the major investment by Ryanair would create more than 200 jobs for engineers and mechanics, it has been estimated. Planning consultant for Aer Lingus, Kevin Hughes, told An Bord Pleanála that Aer Lingus was not against Ryanair’s plan to construct a new hangar within Dublin Airport.
However, he went on to say that it had “a number of concerns and questions regarding the new hangar in its current format that remain unchallenged and have not been addressed”.
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Mr Hughes said that it was “worth noting that Aer Lingus did not submit an observation as they were incorrectly assured by Dublin Airport from the outset that existing Aer Lingus operations would not be materially affected by the proposed development”.
The appeal against Fingal Co Council’s December planning permission by Aer Lingus follows An Bord Pleanála giving leave to the airline to lodge an appeal earlier this month.
Aer Lingus required leave to appeal after not lodging a third-party submission with Fingal County Council. In the appeal, Mr Hughes of Hughes Planning and Development Consultants (HPDC) had told the appeals board that the location and configuration of the proposed hangar would impact on the ability of Aer Lingus to carry out its daily operations at the nearby Hangar 6.
He said: “Aer Lingus has significant concerns regarding the impact the development will have on their current aircraft parking arrangements.”
Mr Hughes also said that “the maximum turning angle of A330-type aircraft was not considered in the assessment of the proposed hangar”.
The planning consultant said that Aer Lingus was “concerned regarding weaknesses in the information that was submitted at application stage”.
Mr Hughes said that these weaknesses include the lack of input from an aviation planner or specialist, queries regarding how pedestrians and staff would safely access the proposed hangar and how oversized machinery would be delivered to the new hangar.
Mr Hughes also said that Aer Lingus was concerned regarding potential congestion issues that would arise if the proposed development was to continue in its current location and configuration.
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