Ryanair News

News Release

20.12.11

Ryanair Publishes Year End Report on Dept of Transport

 
 
NO CHANGE, NO REFORM, DAA TRAFFIC FALLING – MUST DO BETTER
 
Ryanair, Ireland’s favourite airline, today (20th Dec) issued an end of year report on the efforts of the Dept of Transport to boost traffic and tourism at the three DAA monopoly airports (which it owns and controls) and gave the Department an E minus for its failure to deliver any change or reform in its long standing policy of higher airport fees, air travel taxes, and traffic declines.
 
Ryanair today published its estimates (based on actual performance Jan – Nov) for 2011 traffic at the three DAA airports, showing further declines at Cork and Shannon and stagnation at Dublin (in spite of the fact that 2010 figures were understated because of volcanic ash closures in April/May and snow disruptions last December). Despite the artificially low 2010 comparables, traffic at Dublin Airport (where the DAA opened the €1.2bn white elephant in Nov 2010) will be flat, while traffic at both Cork and Shannon (where the DAA imposed a 33% price increase in Nov 2010) has fallen again for the fifth consecutive year in a row, as follows:
 
Pax (m)
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Change
Dublin
23.3
23.5
20.5
18.4
18.4
-21%
Cork
3.2
3.3
2.8
2.4
2.1
-34%
Shannon
3.6
3.2
2.8
1.8
1.6
-56%
Total DAA
30.0
29.9
26.1
22.6
22.1
-26%
 
Over the past five years under the DAA’s mismanagement, the DOT’s failed policy of protecting high airport fees and a damaging travel tax, traffic at Dublin Airport has fallen by over 20%, traffic at Cork Airport has fallen more than 30%, and traffic at Shannon has collapsed by over 50%.
 
Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:
 
“Despite all the promises of the new Government, there has been no change or reform in Irish aviation policy in 2011. Minister Varadkar has pursued the same policy failure of Noel Dempsey, which consisted of protecting the DAA’s high airport fees and continuing the damaging air travel tax. Despite these huge Government imposed price increases, the DAA’s debt rating was further reduced by Standard & Poors to (BBB/A-3). The collapse in traffic at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports over the past five years is a damning indictment of the failure of the Dept of Transport and their policy of protecting the DAA monopoly at the expense of airport users, which has cost Ireland some 8m passengers p.a. and up to 8,000 jobs at the three Irish airports.
 
While the new Government promised much at the start of the year, all we’ve seen so far has been more consultants reports, more indecision, and precious little change or reform in the DOT’s high cost aviation strategy. Minister Varadkar and the Dept of Transport can and should do better. 
 
We hope the New Year will bring much needed change and reform. A good starting point would be to break up of the failed, high cost, DAA airport monopoly, as the UK Competition Commission has recommended the break up of the equally failed high cost BAA airport monopoly. The sale of Shannon and Cork airports would be a good starting point, this could then be supplemented by the sale of the DAA’s overseas interests including its investment in Dusseldorf Airport and Aer Rianta Intl. and then the sale of the two terminals at Dublin Airport, so that at last Irish air travel, tourism and jobs can be stimulated by competition, where they have been irreparably damaged by the high cost DAA monopoly, and the policy failure of the Dept of Transport over the past five years.
 
“Minister Varadkar’s year end Progress Report on Air Transport should read “not much done, a lot more to do in year 2”.
 
 

 


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