Ryanair boss: Second airport plans 'insane'

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary today branded Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny’s plans for a second international airport in Dublin as insane.

The outspoken airline chief insisted the cost of the project would be a scandalous waste of public money and would never work.

Mr Kenny has vowed to make his plans for another airport in the capital a top priority if elected Taoiseach at the forthcoming General Election.

The proposal was derided by the Green Party as a populist gimmick that would threaten their support for a rainbow coalition.

In a stinging attack on the prospects for both the project and Mr Kenny’s chances at the polls, Mr O’Leary remarked: “I think Enda Kenny is likely to be Taoiseach long before we see a second airport in Dublin.”

The outburst drew surprise from within Fine Gael who reacted by accusing the Ryanair chief of being short-sighted.

Mr O’Leary insisted the population of Greater Dublin – less than two million people – was not enough to sustain the Fine Gael leader’s plans.

“Government parties in opposition tend to come up with stupid ideas but a second airport for Dublin would be pretty much up there on the scale of stupid ideas with the Dublin Airport Metro. Something that will never be used and will never work,” he said.

“It would rank up there, in terms of stupid transport investment, somewhere close to the airport Metro, which is another €1.6bn – a complete waste of bloody money.”

The Ryanair chief, not known for his diplomatic language, launched his sharp rebuke while unveiling two new routes between Dublin and Poland.

“The reality is that Dublin airport presently caters for about 20 million passengers. It’s run by an incompetent government-owned airport monopoly, so it caters for them particularly badly,” he said.

“But on one runway – such as at Gatwick – they can handle 40 million passengers, so it’s possible to double the size of Dublin airport at the moment without either building a second runway and certainly without building a second airport.”

Insisting the plans would never see it through the planning stages, he ruled out Baldonnel, in west Dublin, as a possible site, claiming the runway was unsuitable for international air traffic.

Fine Gael Transport spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell said she was surprised at Mr O’Leary’s reaction given his criticism of Government planning in the aviation sector.

She claimed her party’s proposal “to look at the potential for a second airport” would offer choice and competition to airlines and the travelling public.

“Passenger numbers at Dublin Airport consistently outstrip predicted demand. It is already becoming clear that even when the new terminal has been constructed, it will be very close to capacity,” she said.

“This lack of capacity has consistently stymied any attempt to market Dublin Airport and its potential to provide direct flights, rather than depending on other hubs.

“It is very short-sighted of Michael O’Leary to condemn out of hand an attempt to establish how future demand for air travel can be met, and it does a disservice to the travelling public,” she said.