Ryanair has launched a blistering attack on daa accusing it of “incompetence”.
In correspondence with the aviation regulator, the airline said proposed hikes in airport charges were “unjustified” and added it wasn’t confident daa could spend any increased budget effectively.
Ryanair also called for daa to be hit with penalties over lengthy queues and said the increased charges it wanted were “wildly excessive”.
In a letter to the Commission for Aviation Regulation, Ryanair said the operator was now looking for what would be a 91% rise in the price cap.
It said: “daa wants airport users to pay additional sums in airport charges for its own lack of foresight and resource planning.”
Ryanair accused the authority of being unprepared for the bounce-back in air travel this summer, which had resulted in chaotic queues.
The letter, which was sent in early July, said: “daa’s ongoing security queue issues are exclusively down to poor management and must not be conflated with an incorrect perception that the price cap needs to increase in order to solve the security queue issues.”
It added daa’s request for extra money was “alarming and inconsistent” with trying to support recovery after the pandemic.
Ryanair said changing financial information from the airport was “chaotic and unpredictable” for how it communicated with the
regulator and passengers.
In another letter in late June, Ryanair hit out at what it claimed were alarming plans for an effective 88% rise in passenger charges.
The airlines said this would harm traffic recovery, result in significant capacity restrictions and lost connectivity at Dublin Airport.
The letter added: “More frankly, following the chaos at Dublin Airport these past weeks which resulted in thousands of passengers missing their flights, as well as the associated reputational damage to brand Ireland, we are not confident in DAA managements’ ability to manage such significant capital expenditure projects efficiently.”
A spokesman for daa said: “Ensuring aeronautical charges are set at an appropriate level is key to ensuring that [we] are able to deliver the quality of service that both passengers and airlines expect and deserve at Dublin Airport.
“Charges at Dublin Airport are already ultra-low versus our peer airports.”
While acknowledging the summer had been challenging, the source added virtually all passengers were getting through security in less than 30 minutes by the start of August.
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