Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) this afternoon unveiled plans for a second €395m terminal in the State's busiest airport which will be able to handle up to 15 million additional passengers.
|
| An artist's impression of the arrivals, departures and check-in areas of the new terminal |
Outlining the DAA's plans, chairman Gary McCann said the planning application for the 75,000sq meter project would be lodged with Fingal County Council this week.
Barring delays from planning appeals and objections, construction is scheduled to start by the middle of 2007 with the first passengers expected to use T2 in the autumn of 2009.
The addition of the terminal will raise capacity at the airport to almost 35 million passengers per year at a time when the airport is struggling to meet the demand caused by double digit passenger growth.
The cost of terminal, associated road works and pier E comes to a total of €609 million. DAA ceo Declan Collier said the cost of the new terminal and other parts of the development programme for the airport, including a new runway and an extension to Terminal One would cost more than €1.2 billion.
He said the DAA would have to increase airport charges to fund the vast majority of the project. He said the DAA was in contact with the Commission for Aviation Regulation concerning an increase.
However, Mr Collier admitted that "to date, the regulator has not fully agreed" with the DAA's development plan and the proposal to increase airport charges by €3 over the course of the next ten years to pay for the project. The proposal was the suject of ongoing consultation between the regulator and the DAA.
He said, depending on regulator approval, the airport charge would rise from €6 to €7.50 and this would apply for the first four years, before rising to closer to €9 per passenger for the next six years.
He noted that in comparison with other major European airports, even the proposed charging at Dublin Airport would be substantially below other European airports.
The design of T2 is a 75 three-storey, curvilinear building that sits astride the main access road to Terminal One.
The DAA said that the fact that the building sits astride the road means that traffic for the existing passenger terminal will pass under this link on its way to the other terminal.
Mr McGann said T2 would "provide a cost effective solution to Dublin Airport's current capacity deficit" adding that the new terminal is "an elegant and contemporary gateway for 21st century Ireland,".
Locations for a future Metro station and a ground transportation centre are also provided in the development plan. Mr Cullen said he hoped that the RPA would agree on an underground link to the airport and the plans provide for a station that will serve both terminals.
Planning permission for the terminal and Pier E, will be lodged later this week with Fingal County Council.
The expansion of the airport is seen as necessary as passenger numbers at the airport continue to grow. About 20 million passengers are expected to use Dublin this year.
Passenger numbers at the airport had grown by 15 per cent this July, compared with the previous year.
The DAA's plan to build a second runway at the airport will be discussed at an oral hearing An Bord Pleanála on September 26th.