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”.