The Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR), the independent body who set maximum charges at Dublin Airport, have decided to decrease the charges by a further 19% for the 2015-2019 period. The DAA had made the decision to keep charges flat over the next five years in order to stimulate passenger growth and invest in expansion and improvement to Dublin Airport to develop the customer experience.
The changes will see the current price cap of €10.68 per person reduced by 4.2% each year to €8.68 in 2019.
The DAA’s decision also came after the third successive year of their Growth Incentive Scheme, which saw the airport offering an airport charges rebate to each airline that increased its passenger numbers throughout the year. In 2013, the DAA rebated €5.6 million in airport charges to 40 airlines such as Aer Lingus, American Airlines, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and Ryanair.
A further 19% reduction is an unsustainable figure that will set Dublin Airport up to have one of the lowest airport charges in Europe.
“Charges at Dublin Airport are already 22% lower than the average airport charge at our European peers and a further 19% reduction, as suggested by the regulator, is unwarranted,” said DAA Chief Executive Kevin Toland.
“The aviation regulator has refused to sanction more than €100 million worth of necessary improvements that would maximise the growth opportunities at Dublin Airport, upgrade the passenger experience in the older parts of the airport, and deliver the most efficient use of the airfield in a safe and secure manner,” Mr Toland added.
In addition, the DAA claims that “the regulator has also decided to delay the delivery of the new parallel runway at Dublin Airport beyond the next five years.” The DAA claims that this will leave Ireland at a significant disadvantage to other western European countries that have runway capacity to accommodate new long haul routes to the Far East.
The construction of a second runway will apparently be funded once passenger numbers reach 23.5 million - which will be in 2018, according to CAR’s estimates.
“Our determination sets a target for DAA in 2019 that entails passing on cost savings – lower operating costs and lower financing costs – to users,” said CAR’s acting commissioner for aviation regulation.
“While the commission has decided to reduce the price cap in each year up to and including 2019, we still expect DAA to raise about €1.8bn from airport charges and commercial revenues over the next five years. This is 12pc more than the revenues it was able to collect in the last five years.”
Ryanair, who have previously benefited from the DAA’s Growth Incentive Scheme said that the reduction is not enough and taxes should be entirely abolished.
“It has reversed the CAR’s original proposal to reduce Dublin airport charges by 22% and permits the State-owned Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to charge an average of over €20 per departing passenger at Dublin in the next five years," the airline said in a press release.
Juliusz Komorek, the airline's Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs said it "is a direct result of the political interference by the Transport Minister, which fatally undermines the independence and credibility of airport charges regulation in Ireland.”
Data provided by 
The data above demonstrates the increase in available seat capacity since 2011 after an initial decline in 2009. The increase appears to have begun after the DAA introduced the Growth Incentive Scheme to airlines, therefore suggesting that the passenger growth could have been related to the incentive scheme.
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