THE DUBLIN Airport Authority has rejected a proposal from Ryanair which the airline said would increase traffic at Shannon airport by 1 million passengers a year by 2016.
In a statement, the airport authority said Ryanair’s demands were “unreasonable” and said the terms would be “financially ruinous” for any airport.
The State-owned company said Ryanair wanted Shannon to pay it €4.70 for every new passenger it brought to the airport.
Ryanair also proposed that it pay no landing or aircraft charges at Shannon for new passengers and sought free check-in desks, offices and communications.
In addition, Ryanair wanted the authority to repay €3.7 million that it paid the airport group in January to settle a High Court case relating to a previous deal.
The airport authority said the airline wanted this paid up front and described it as “hello money”.
Mr O’Leary said it had not sought the money back up front.
“I just want my money back,” he said. “They can pay me at the end of the deal if they want.”
Mr O’Leary said Ryanair simply wanted the same terms as Aer Lingus received for transfer passengers at Dublin airport.
“Why are they giving that growth incentive scheme to Aer Lingus when it’s not growing traffic there?” he asked. “What is the DAA doing about the traffic collapses at Dublin and Shannon. Nothing.”
The authority said its deal with Aer Lingus was substantially different to the terms sought by Ryanair.
It said Shannon “has a range of incentive schemes that offer discounts of up to 100 per cent on airport charges for new routes”.
Ryanair has reduced its passenger numbers at Shannon from about 1.9 million to 300,000.
The authority said that in spite of this, Shannon airport’s financial position had improved during the past 12 months, as airlines paid a “sustainable charge” for the services that they use.
The authority said Aer Lingus had recently added seven new routes from Shannon while Ryanair had added four services.
“Yeah, they’re once a week in the summer,” Mr O’Leary said. “I’m not going to deliver any big volumes.”
