Airport terminal row takes off after Ryanair attack
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The new T2 terminal at Dublin Airport should be abandoned for the foreseeable future and a third €250m low-cost terminal built instead, Ryanair said last night.
But Dublin Airport Authority insisted that the new terminal would open in November and will cost well under €1bn.
The bitter dispute between the airline and the authority was reignited last night over the cost and future of the terminal.
In a scathing attack on the project, the airline said it would cost €1.2bn to complete instead of €200m and accused the aviation regulator of raising airport charges by 40pc to pay for it.
But the DAA hit back and accused Ryanair of telling lies. It said the whole T2 project, including an upgrade of the airport road network, would come in at around €609m.
The new terminal has long been a bone of contention for Ryanair, which has refused to have anything to do with the building since plans to build it were announced.
It believes a low-cost terminal should have been built instead which, it claims, would keep airport costs to a minimum.
Chief executive Michael O'Leary recently accused the DAA of making a "complete balls" of the project and said "we are asking tourists to pay for it".
Abandoned
And yesterday Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said they wouldn't even take on the T2 terminal if it was given to them for free because it would cost €200m to operate every year. He said the project should be abandoned and a third terminal should be built at a cost of €250m.
But a DAA spokesman said T2, which is due to open in November, had been built with an eye on Ireland's long-term future. "T2 is being constructed for generations to come and if Ryanair had its way, passengers would be flying from a cattle shed," he said.
He said every transatlantic carrier operating out of Dublin airport was confirmed to move its operations to T2.
Ireland's tourism industry has been decimated since the onset of the recession and that has had a significant impact on footfall at Dublin Airport.
A report by travel consultants RDC Aviation found that around 160,000 fewer travellers came through Dublin Airport in December 2009 compared to the same period last year.
In a new advertisement, in which T2 is portrayed as a giant turkey, Ryanair claims that traffic at the airport is down 15pc this year. The DAA conceded that passenger numbers were in decline but they said Ryanair was exaggerating the figure.
- Stephen O'Farrell
Irish Independent
