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THE DUBLIN Airport Authority (DAA) is planning to offer significant financial incentives to airlines that launch new routes from Dublin airport in 2009.
It is understood the DAA will offer airlines €450,000 in marketing support over a two-year period for new long-haul services and €100,000 for new routes to Europe.
These supports will apply from January 1st for new scheduled services. Airlines are also being offered steep discounts on airport passenger charges for between three and five years.
The move is designed to stimulate passenger traffic, which has declined sharply in recent months due to the effects of the credit crunch and the recession here.
In November, 1.5 million passengers used Dublin airport, an 8 per cent drop on the same month in 2007.
The incentives will be open to all airlines, including Aer Lingus and Ryanair, which between them operate about 80 per cent of the traffic through Dublin airport.
But it remains to be seen if either Irish airline will avail of the route support scheme.
Aer Lingus said it would look at the details of the incentive scheme but added that its summer schedule out of Dublin had already been decided. "It's possible that we might do something with our winter schedule," said Enda Corneille, Aer Lingus's corporate affairs director.
A spokeswoman for Ryanair described Dublin airport as a "high-cost and uncompetitive" location and said it was unlikely to avail of the incentives. Ryanair has grounded aircraft at Dublin airport for the winter months in a dispute over airport charges.
It is understood the DAA is keen to plug gaps to a number of European Union member states, including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Airlines offering scheduled flights on these routes will get a 100 per cent discount on airport charges - currently about €7.50 per departing passenger - in year one, 50 per cent in the second year and 25 per cent in year three.
The long-haul routes must be 2,500km or more in distance from Dublin. While services to the US is the primary focus, DAA is also thought to be keen to encourage airlines to fly to China and the Middle East.
The discounts on passenger charges for long-haul flights will range from 100 per cent in the first year of operation down to 25 per cent in the fifth year.
The DAA said recently that passenger traffic through Dublin airport this year would show "modest growth" on the 2007 level of 23.3 million.
But the number of people using the airport in recent months has declined due to a sharp falloff in Irish consumer demand and a 3 per cent fall in tourist numbers.
Nineteen new routes were launched from Dublin airport in 2007.