Ryanair slams lack of consultation on airport terminal

Ryanair today criticised the announcement by the DAA on the location of a second terminal and the €1.2bn budget for Dublin Airport.

Ryanair has not been consulted on this facility, nor its design, nor its location, nor its cost.

Ryanair is still waiting to hear from Pascall & Watson and the DAA as to the location of the second terminal, the cost, and its impact on passenger charges.

Michael O’Leary, Chief Executive of Ryanair, said: "It is regrettable that the DAA having made such a monumental mess of the first terminal, now announces a second terminal without consulting with its main airline users. It was this absence of consultation which is responsible for the present badly designed facilities in which customers are forced to endure long queues, long walks and bus journeys from overpriced carparks.

"€1.2bn is an excessive amount to expect the Irish taxpayer to fund.

Mr O'Leary said that it is the latest squandering of public money by the Department of Transport.

"Their current timetable of 2009 means yet another four years that passengers have to endure the present deplorable conditions at Dublin Airport. Had the Government run with a competing second terminal, which was promised in the Government’s own Programme for Government in 2002, and had the support of the tourism industry, it would have been completed by 2006 and at no cost to the Exchequer.

"Ryanair will be seeking an immediate meeting with the DAA to obtain details and a breakdown of costs of these plans, and only when this information is received will we decide whether to support or oppose them.

"It is regrettable that despite the change of name from Aer Rianta to the DAA, the lack of consultation with airline users seems to have continued."