Regulator under fire

RYANAIR recently highlighted the abject failure of the Commission of Aviation Regulation to do anything to reduce charges at the Aer Rianta semi-state monopoly.

This is despite its original determination in 2002 that Dublin airport was "50% more inefficient than the best of its peers".

Three years of doing nothing of course comes at a price inflation may be below 3%, traffic growth in Ireland may be struggling at 5% per annum, but the regulator's costs have almost doubled from €1.95m in 2002 to over €3.6m in 2004.