{"id":479924,"date":"2026-05-11T22:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/479924\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T22:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:58:14","slug":"ryanair-clashes-with-daa-over-e5-6bn-airport-expansion-plan-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/479924\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryanair clashes with DAA over \u20ac5.6bn airport expansion plan \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ryanair<\/a> chief executive Michael O\u2019Leary<\/a> clashed with airports operator DAA<\/a> on Monday over the State company\u2019s \u20ac5.6-billion plan to expand Dublin Airport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DAA recently set out plans to expand Ireland\u2019s biggest airport between next year and 2031, allowing it to handle around 45 million passengers a year, from 36.4 million in 2025.<\/p>\n

However, O\u2019Leary branded the \u20ac5.6-billion bill for the work a \u201cwaste\u201d and \u201cregulatory gaming of the worst kind\u201d, claiming it would double what Dublin charges airlines for passengers to \u20ac40 per person.<\/p>\n

Minister for Transport Darragh O\u2019Brien<\/a> \u201cshould tackle this by sacking the board of the DAA\u201d, said O\u2019Leary.<\/p>\n

He demanded that Department of Transport officials instruct the DAA to come up with a new growth plan for Dublin that lowered costs and grew passenger numbers to 45 million.<\/p>\n

He said that the DAA plan amounted to twice the cost of the controversial national children\u2019s hospital, for which the State could pay more than \u20ac2.5 billion.<\/p>\n

\"\"PrepayPower are hiking their prices – will other energy suppliers soon follow suit?<\/p>\n

The airline chief argued that the proposals would not add any new passenger capacity.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Leary\u2019s remarks prompted a DAA spokesman to say that Ryanair\u2019s passenger figures showed it needed \u201ca new calculator\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe maximum DAA is currently allowed to charge is \u20ac10.40, the same price as 15 years ago, despite 20 per cent-plus inflation in the intervening period,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur regulatory proposition for the next five years requests a modest increase to average \u20ac13, which will fund further improvements of facilities for passengers and our 40-plus airline partners,\u201d added the spokesman.<\/p>\n

Air travel regulator the Irish Aviation Authority<\/a> must approve spending by DAA on expanding Dublin Airport while it determines the maximum that the company can charge airlines for the passengers they fly from there.<\/p>\n

DAA set out its plans to the authority in a recently published submission. The regulator will conclude a process this year that will set passenger charges at Dublin from 2027 to 2031.<\/p>\n

Ryanair maintains that the plan will not add to passenger capacity as it does not provide for new terminals and runways.<\/p>\n

DAA plans two extra piers, the sections where departure and arrival gates are located, which the airport operator believes will allow Dublin take on up to 10 million extra travellers a year. Its proposed new pier 5 east could support up to three million additional travellers, the majority of which the company notes could be inbound US tourists. A new pier 1 east could allow it to take on a further seven million passengers a year.<\/p>\n

DAA opted to add new piers instead of building a third terminal building when it first began working on its current expansion plan.<\/p>\n

The Minister is due to publish legislation that will allow him to drop or amend a 32-million-a-year passenger limi<\/a>t on Dublin. Airlines including Ryanair have been urging politicians to pass the Bill into law quickly, or face serious loss of traffic at the airport.<\/p>\n

Planners imposed the limit on the two existing terminals at Dublin in 2007 on the basis that further expansion at the airport would require a third facility. However, new technology and passenger processing systems mean Dublin no longer needs a third terminal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryanair chief executive Michael O\u2019Leary clashed with airports operator DAA on Monday over the State company\u2019s \u20ac5.6-billion plan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,38997,2914,26,18,19,17,12356,1843,623],"class_list":{"0":"post-479924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-daa","10":"tag-darragh-o-brien","11":"tag-dublin-airport","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-irish-aviation-authority","16":"tag-michael-oleary","17":"tag-ryanair"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116558423973095182","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}