The junior minister for international transport has come up with a novel way to solve the seemingly intractable row over passenger numbers at Dublin Airport. His answer involves judicious use of brackets and a geographical sleight of hand that would test the nerve of the most shameless of Ryanair flight planners.
Minister for State at the Department of Transport James Lawless met Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary on Wednesday to discuss the Dublin Airport passenger cap that limits the number of people coming and going through Ireland’s largest transport hub to 32 million a year.
Airlines have said the cap poses a risk to economic growth and — of perhaps more immediate concern to many people who use the airport — warned the cap could mean fares climb sky-high as the carriers are forced to cut services to and from Dublin.
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After the meeting, Mr Lawless said that while it was his “preferred outcome” that planning authorities lift the cap to 40 million there were other ideas on the table.
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He highlighted an “obvious solution” which would mean Shannon Airport and Cork Airport, which are not subjected to caps, used by more people.
“There’s nobody in a better place than Ryanair and with a better-proven record at marketing outlying airports as a destination,” he said. “I’ve gone to Paris [Beauvais] with Ryanair, Venice [Treviso] with Ryanair — why can’t I fly to Dublin [Shannon] with Ryanair?”
Why, indeed?
Mr O’Leary was quick to dismiss the notion and noted that “60 per cent of the traffic is inbound and it doesn’t want to go to Shannon or Cork, it wants to go to Dublin”.
But passenger wishes aside, Mr Lawless’s comments raise some interesting questions — not least of which is how the people of Clare would feel about suddenly becoming part of Dublin to solve a problem that is not of their making.
More to the point, do Mr Lawless’s geographical comparisons stand up to scrutiny?
Shannon Airport is about 225km from Dublin city centre. By comparison, Treviso is a mere 40km — figuratively speaking a short gondola ride — from Venice.
Beauvais might make the Minister of State’s point more effectively as it is 80km from the French capital.
However, there are other comparisons which he could draw upon to make a more convincing case.
For years, Ryanair flew people heading for Barcelona into Girona which is 90km north of their actual destination. It also offers flights to (Barcelona) Reus although the small airport is 106km south of Barcelona.
Frankfurt Hahn is another airport that is popular with low-cost carriers. Despite its name, it is nowhere near the big German city it pretends to fly into. Frankfurt Hahn is, in fact, 125km from Frankfurt although someone arriving there can be in Frankfurt in less than 90 minutes.
Other airports are located some distance from the planned final destinations of passengers. Gatwick is just over 55km from London, Malaga Airport is 58km from Marbella, while (Brussels) Charleroi is 60km from Brussels.
Anyone flying with Ryanair into the Cypriot airport of Paphos and hoping to holiday in Ayia Napa faces a considerably longer journey of 178km before they can rest their weary heads, or down shots while dancing on a bar counter.
Some of the longer distances are to be found at the highest points in Europe. Anyone familiar with Alpine ski runs will know of long schleps from airport to hotel, albeit these are more to do with snow caps than passenger caps.
The nearest airport to Val Thorens is Chambéry Airport which is 122km away while the slopes are also commonly served by Geneva Airport which is 202km away – a trek for sure but still a bit shorter than the ride from Dublin (Shannon) to Dublin (Dublin).
As for the idea of Dublin (Cork) as a destination? Maybe Mr Lawless should ask his party leader Micheál Martin what Leesiders would think of that.
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