400 people to lose jobs at airport authority

AT least 400 people are to lose their jobs at Cork, Shannon and Dublin airports as the Dublin Airport Authority tries to plug a €70 million shortfall in its finances.

The business employs 2,665 full-time staff in the three airports, including approximately 350 in Cork and 280 in Shannon, as well as a further 572 in its international operations.

All of those staff received letters yesterday morning telling them that the company is in financial difficulty and will not be able to continue its payroll if the shortfall is not addressed.

As part of non-staff related savings it has already said it is decimating its capital expenditure by €400m, a 50% reduction.

That is being achieved through a number of measures, including the postponement of the second runway at Dublin Airport.

The new runway is being classed as a “trigger” project – it will be triggered by a recovery in the economy and the resultant recovery in passenger numbers.

The cutbacks at the authority have been necessitated by the forecast of an 11% or 3.3 million drop in passenger numbers across Cork, Dublin and Shannon this year.

The authority has been forced to seek permission from the regulator for an increase in the passenger charges at the airports.

The company entered discussions with its unions on the payroll savings yesterday.

It told them the cutbacks would be achieved through 400 redundancies, career breaks, reduced hours, changes in terms and conditions and pay freezes.

It told the unions it will look for cutbacks through a severance scheme and non-renewal of contracts and that the redundancies would, in the first instance, be voluntary. However, it has not ruled out compulsory cutbacks.

It also told staff in the letters that pay cuts were the ultimate option if the other savings could not be achieved.

The Dublin Airport Authority has not set down a timeframe for the cutbacks nor signalled which of the airports will be hardest hit.

However, it has told unions it wants the talks process to be completed as soon as possible given the rate at which its revenue is dropping.

Unions accused the company of issuing them with a fait accompli saying decisions appeared to have been made without prior consultation.

They said the preservation of as many jobs as possible was key and warned against any moves to cut core pay.

The aviation industry has been decimated in recent months.