RYANAIR HAS axed plans to install 44 self-service, check-in kiosks at Dublin airport, which would have allowed passengers to print off their tickets without dealing with airline staff.

This followed its failure in the High Court yesterday to stop the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) from requiring the airline to sign a licensing and fee agreement before it installed the kiosks.

The DAA planned to charge €52,000 for the use of the 44 Ryanair kiosks at Dublin airport from January next. The charge is being introduced for all airlines using the self-service ticket machines. It is understood that Aer Lingus has signed an agreement with the DAA to pay the rental fee for its kiosks.

Ryanair said the terminal floor space at the airport was already being double charged to airlines, through the €15 departing passenger fee and an annual €25,000 rental fee for every check-in desk. It said Dublin was the only airport it used in Europe that charged for these kiosks.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary added: "Ryanair's response to this overcharging is that we won't install these kiosks at Dublin. We will now bring forward plans to migrate all our Dublin passengers to web check-in, so that we can avoid these abusive monopoly rentals."

The DAA rejected Ryanair's claims that it was treble charging for terminal space at the airport. In a statement issued to The Irish Times, the DAA said: "Since late 2007, the DAA has made it clear that it intended to apply a modest rental fee for using self-service, check-in kiosks as Dublin airport. Following consultation with the Commission for Aviation Regulation, the regulator decided that a rental fee was permitted.

The DAA set the annual fee for 2009 at €1,200 per kiosk, which is applicable to all airlines."