CAR PARKING rates at Dublin airport have been slashed as the State-owned Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and private operator QuickPark tackle a slump in demand.
In the past week, the DAA, which operates about 21,000 parking spaces at Dublin airport, cut the price of long-term parking in half as a response to a reduction in the fee charged by private operator QuickPark, which is run by businessman John O’Sullivan.
QuickPark, which has 3,500 spaces on a 29-acre site close to the airport, cut its charge to €5 a day from €7.50 daily. The fee was introduced on March 1st for online bookings, and its website says the promotion will last five weeks.
This prompted a response from the DAA. Passengers who pre-book their spaces online can now park in the DAA’s long-term facilities for just €4.50 a day. This compares with the normal rate of €9 a day. Short-term spaces can be booked for as little as €10 a day, compared with a normal rate of €40 a day.
Commenting on the move, a spokesman for DAA said: “It’s a capacity-management decision. We will look at offering different prices for prebooking spaces. It’s a competitive market out there.”
No comment was available from QuickPark.
Competition between car park operators at Dublin airport has intensified in recent months as passenger traffic has declined. Dublin handled 1.4 million passengers in January, an 8 per cent decline on the same month of 2008.
Car parks have been a cash cow for the DAA over the past decade as passenger numbers soared in line with economic growth.
Last year, The Irish Timesrevealed that the DAA earned €52 million in 2007 from its car parks in Dublin, Cork and Shannon. This was roughly 8 per cent of DAA's overall turnover.
Dublin airport is believed to account for about 75 per cent of the DAA’s car parking revenue.
Figures for Dockstop Ltd, which operates Quick Park, show that, while its gross profit rose by 26 per cent to €6.5 million in 2007, its pretax profit declined by 34 per cent to €789,893. This was due to a rise in administrative expenses and interest costs.
