Aviation authority sees pre-tax profits of €21m

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) last year recorded “a very strong”financial performance with pre-tax profits increasing by 45% to €21.34m.

According to its 2013 annual report, the authority had saw the sharp increase in profits in spite of revenues dropping marginally from €175m to €173.5m.

In his report, IAA chief executive, Eamonn Brennan said that the authority’s financial performance in 2013 was very strong.

The figures show the authority’s operating profit of €25.7m was 12% up on the €22.85m recorded in 2012 with much lower finance expenses of €4.5m resulting in the higher increase in pre-tax profit.

Overall remuneration for Mr Brennan last year totalled €352,000 made up of a basic salary of €232,000; pension contributions of €79,000 and taxable benefits of €41,000. His remuneration was marginally down on the €357,000 he received in 2012.

Salary costs for the IAA’s 677 staff totalled €60.29m or on average €89,054 each. Mr Brennan said the authority’s operating expenses fell 2.8% to €147.9m “mainly reflecting the continued efforts of the authority to reduce its operating costs”. Net defined pension liability stood at €113.8m last December which represented an improvement of €13.5m compared with 2012”.

Revenues are made up of €115.5m or 66.5% of turnover generated from en route navigation services for overflights while north Atlantic communications services accounted for €18m.

The annual report says the authority generated €21.4m in revenues from providing terminal navigation to Cork, Shannon and Dublin airports while the IAA generated €16m in safety regulation.