Dublin Airport operator Daa has reacted furiously to what it calls “false claims” by Ryanair about its pricing and policy, particularly the claim that airport charges are set to rise by 45% next year.
Ryanair has pulled 17 routes from its upcoming winter flight schedule at Dublin Airport and is planning to move aircraft to other EU hubs over issues it has with Daa pricing and management policy at the country’s largest airport.
Daa said: “Regulated charges at Dublin Airport, which are set by the aviation regulator, the IAA (formerly CAR), and not daa, are set to increase by only 6% in 2024.
Kenny Jacobs, Daa’s CEO said:
“I am surprised and disappointed that Ryanair would seek to reconfigure its based aircraft at Dublin Airport this winter when they could pay even lower ultra-low cost charges if they choose to avail of the suite of sustainability incentives we have proposed for 2024. I am baffled why any airline with sustainability ambitions would choose to turn down the opportunity to operate lower CO₂ emission and less noisy aircraft at Dublin Airport by turning down the new discount schemes. The Ryanair decision to reduce their MAX fleet at Dublin Airport next winter is adding to their cost base when by actually increasing the MAX fleet they would in fact pay even less in 2024 that they will in 2023.”
“Ryanair’s claim of a 45% increase in charges in 2024 is FALSE. As Ryanair knows well, the aeronautical charges at Dublin Airport are regulated by the IAA who set the maximum level of charges at Dublin Airport. There is nothing approaching a 45% proposed in pricing at Dublin Airport which is patently false for anyone who has studied the regulators’ determination last December.
“Rather than depending on back of a scratch card mathematics, I would urge those making such false statements, to redo their sums and more importantly study the range of sustainability incentives proposed at Dublin Airport and join us on the journey to a carbon free aviation eco-system over the coming years.
“Ryanair’s claim that Dublin Airport offers no incentives to airlines is also FALSE. A traffic recovery scheme is in place at Dublin Airport that has worked incredibly well and has facilitated the speedy 100% bounce back in activity at Dublin Airport post-Covid. This scheme will remain in place for another 6 months, including the winter period that Ryanair is focused on. As the biggest beneficiary of the TRSS scheme, we can understand why Ryanair would like to see it remain in place beyond next March, but we are happy that Dublin Airport’s growth has recovered to pre-pandemic levels and we do not need to incentivise new growth given Dublin Airport has a planning capacity limit of 32 million passengers per annum.
“Ryanair’s claim that daa has no plan to invest in new and better infrastructure at Dublin Airport is FALSE. daa has already announced significant capital infrastructure ambitions for both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport and the details of these will be in our Infrastructure Application which will be made to Fingal County Council before the end of this year.
“Ryanair’s claim that an underpass is not needed at Dublin Airport is, once again, FALSE. The Underpass is essentially a safety project, which will contribute to effective and efficient airfield operations and maintain operations in the West Apron. We have reviewed all options, including solutions in place at other European airports, and both the aviation regulator and daa agree the underpass solution is the optimum one from a safety perspective and we never compromise on safety.”
