Irish airports see varied fortunes

IRISH airports have had contrasting fortunes, with Dublin tumbling down an international ranking survey and Knock enjoying its busiest year to date.

Dublin Airport has slipped 14 places — from 61 to 75 — in the Annual World Airports Survey, on the back of traffic falling by 10.1% in 2010.

Ryanair reiterated its call for the breaking up of the Dublin Airport Authority’s (DAA) ownership of Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports, saying Ireland cannot afford “an uncompetitive, semi-state, airport monopoly where only Declan Collier’s [the DAA chief executive] pay packet rises, as traffic at all three airports declines”.

“At a time when most other UK and European airports are reducing charges, Dublin Airport hiked its fees by 40% in 2010. As a result, it has suffered the worst loss of traffic of any of the top 100 international airports,” said Ryanair’s head of communications, Stephen McNamara.

Meanwhile, the Ireland West Airport at Knock yesterday reported 84,000 passengers using the airport in August — 6% up year-on-year. Traffic from Britain is up 5%.

Managing director Joe Gilmore said: “New routes, this year, to Lanzarote, Las Palmas and Tenerife — added to the other sun destinations in Spain and Portugal — have proved a success with families, in particular, finding the ease of access into and through the airport very convenient.”

However, Connacht Airport Development, its holding company, saw pre-tax profits for 2010 halve to €293,960 due to the volcanic ash cloud.