DAA Rebates €5.6m in Airport Charges to 40 Airlines at Dublin Airport

Irish airport operator, DAA, has rebated €5.6 million in airport charges to 40 airlines that grew traffic their business at Dublin Airport during 2013 under its Growth Incentive Scheme. The announcement followed confirmation that the airport, the largest air transport gateway into the Republic of Ireland, handled over 20 million passengers last year, ending with a final figure of 20.2 million, up six per cent on 2012.

Under its Growth Incentive Scheme, which has operated since 2011, DAA pays an airport charges rebate to each airline that increases its passenger numbers at Dublin during the year. Airlines that increased passenger numbers at Dublin Airport last year and are being paid rebates under the scheme include; Aer Arann, Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Delta, Lufthansa, Norwegian, Turkish Airlines, Ryanair, SAS, Tarom, and United.

This is the third successive year of Growth Scheme payments at Dublin Airport and during that period, DAA has rebated a total of €8.6 million in airport charges to its airline customers. “This incentive scheme was designed to encourage growth in passenger numbers and we are delighted to have paid a rebate in each of the three years it has operated,” said Vincent Harrison, managing director, Dublin Airport.

DAA has recently decided to renew the Growth Incentive Scheme for a further three years up to 2016. The new scheme will apply to all scheduled airlines using Dublin Airport, and will operate alongside DAA’s existing generous route incentive schemes.

The significant growth in passenger numbers in 2013 was led by a record-breaking performance on transatlantic traffic, which saw a 13 per cent increase during 2013. More than 1.9 million passengers flew between Dublin and destinations in North America last year, which beats the previous all-time record of 1.79 million, set during the economic boom of 2008.

Long-haul traffic to the Middle East also grew by just over 13 per cent last year and passenger numbers travelling to and from Dublin Airport’s largest markets of Europe and the UK also increased. Transfer traffic saw strong growth during 2013, as transfer passengers increased by 36% to almost 550,000.

Last year was Dublin Airport’s third successive year of growth and the airport’s busiest year since 2009. This year is expected to bring further growth, according to Harrison. “We’re very positive about 2014, as we already have 16 new services scheduled and significant expansions of some existing services have also been announced,” he said.

These comprise flights from Aer Lingus to San Francisco, Toronto, Hanover and Pula; Air Canada Rouge to Toronto; Luxair to Luxembourg; Ryanair to Lisbon, Prague, Bucharest, Basel, Marrakech, Almeria, Bari, Chania and Comiso and a first transatlantic offering from Canadian carrier WestJet from St John’s, Newfoundland.