There will have been huge relief at Dublin airport yesterday that An Bord Pleanála gave the green light both to Terminal 2 (T2) and to a second runway, writes Ciarán Hancock, Business Affairs Correspondent Analysis
Both decisions came with a raft of conditions but, on first glance at least, sources close to the Dublin Airport Authority indicated that it could live with them.
The authority hopes to have the builders on site within six to eight weeks, with the new facility opening in April 2010.
Getting the T2 project to this stage has been a long-haul journey that no air traveller would want to experience.
It is 12 months since the DAA sought planning for T2 from Fingal County Council and it was May 2005 when the then Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats government chose the DAA to build the facility.
A rejection by An Bord Pleanála was unthinkable for all concerned. It would have forced the Government to go back to the drawing board and start again, possibly adding three years to the whole process.
Dublin airport is already at bursting point. DAA recently took the decision to suspend its special discounts for new airlines as a move to put a cap on passengers numbers through the airport.
DAA expects to handle 22.8 million passengers this year in the existing terminal building. Ideally, it should only be handling about 70 per cent of that amount.
An Bord Pleanála has now given DAA permission to increase its capacity to 32 million.
Aer Lingus's beleaguered chief executive Dermot Mannion will also have breathed a sigh of relief. After weeks of fighting fires over Shannon and a possible pilot strike, Mr Mannion finally has a piece of good news.
Aer Lingus will be T2's biggest user and it will allow the airline to fulfil its long-haul expansion plans, for which it has ordered six wide-bodied Airbus aircraft.
The IDA believes the decision will benefit inward investment, having previously criticised the airport for projecting the wrong image to foreign investors. The tourism sector expects it to be a catalyst for Ireland to double revenues to €10 billion by 2015.
The fly in the ointment is Ryanair. Michael O'Leary has long argued that the facility is "gold plated". He has a point.
At today's prices, the terminal building will cost €395 million. Throw in new roads, kerbs, a new Pier E and other related facilities and infrastructure, and the cost swells to €610 million.
By the time T2 opens, the DAA will be in hock to the tune of €1 billion.
Mr O'Leary said he could have built a perfectly-adequate facility for much less and plans to challenge the decision in the High Court.
Mr O'Leary's objections might have more to do with the fact that Aer Lingus, Ryanair's largest rival at Dublin Airport, will be the biggest beneficiary of T2.
By contrast, Ulick McEvaddy, a successful businessman who had hoped to develop T2 at his own site to the west of the airport, has welcomed the planning decision. "I lost the political argument," he said. "At least now we can get away from the chaos that currently exists."
Amen to that.