Airport authority rules out sale of assets to fund passenger terminal

THE Dublin Airport Authority has ruled out selling off more assets to pay for a second passenger terminal.

The DAA plans to spend €609 million building a terminal and other upgrades to the existing facilities in the next three years.

Declan Collier, chief executive of the DAA, said that increasing passenger charges by 3 over the next 10 years was the only way to fund the expansion. He told the Irish Examiner yesterday the DAA’s assets, which include stakes in Birmingham, Hamburg and Dusseldorf airports and duty free shops worldwide, would not be sold. Last week, the DAA sold off the Great Southern Hotel chain for €265m.

The DAA unveiled plans for the second terminal at Dublin Airport. The terminal, which is scheduled to open in 2009, will be capable of handling an extra 15 million passengers a year and have capacity for an additional 19 short-haul or eight wide-body aircraft.

The facility will cost €395m to build and when other developments are included, the total expenditure by the DAA will hit €609m.

The DAA last year sought a 50% increase in passenger charges but was granted only a 23% increase by the Commission for Aviation Regulator (CAR). The CAR said the increase was not justified as the DAA was able to finance its expansion plans through other methods. The DAA successfully appealed the regulator’s decision to an aviation appeals panel.

Mr Collier said he was hopeful that the CAR, now headed by new chairman Cathal Guiomard, would grant the increase. He said aviation charges in Ireland were among the lowest in Europe and that even with the proposed rise to around €8.50 they would still be some way short of the average of €11 across the EU.

Planning permission for the new terminal will be lodged next week and construction is expected to start early next year.

The Air Transport Users’ Council (ATUC) said that even when Terminal 2 is finished more capacity at Dublin Airport will be needed and urged the DAA to seek planning permission for a third terminal.

ATUC spokesman Sean Murphy said: “We don’t want a situation with Terminal Two similar to that which we witnessed with the Luas, where it was full on day one.”