Dublin Airport Authority: Ryanair accused DAA of 'incompetence' and 'poor management 'embarrassment.

Ryanair launched a blistering attack on the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) accusing them of “incompetence” and having caused Ireland international embarrassment during the summer.

In correspondence with the aviation regulator, the low-fare airlines said proposed hikes in airport charges were “unjustified” and that they weren’t confident DAA could spend any increased budget effectively.

Ryanair also called for the airport authority to be hit with penalties over lengthy queues and said the increased charges they were seeking were “wildly excessive”.

Ryanair said in a letter to the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) that the Dublin Airport Authority was now seeking an increase in the price cap that, in actual dollars, would amount to a 91% rise.

According to the statement, "DAA expects airport customers to pay greater amounts in airport fees to make up for its own lack of planning and resource allocation."

Ryanair claimed that the airport administration was not ready for the increase in flight traffic this summer, which led to disorganized lines.

Early in July, the letter was sent, and it stated:

DAA’s ongoing security queue issues are exclusively down to poor management and must not be conflated with an incorrect perception that the price cap needs to increase in order to solve the security queue issues.

It claimed that DAA's proposal for further funding was "alarming and incongruous" with efforts to aid in the pandemic's recovery.

For how they interacted with the regulator and customers, Ryanair claimed that changing financial information from the airport was "chaotic and unpredictable."

Ryanair criticised what they described as worrying intentions for what they claimed would be a real 88% increase in passenger fees in another letter in late June.

Low-cost airlines warned that this would hinder traffic recovery, lead to severe capacity constraints, and cause connectivity issues at Dublin Airport.

"More frankly," the letter continued, "we are not confident in DAA management's ability to manage such significant capital expenditure projects efficiently in light of the chaos at Dublin Airport these past weeks that caused thousands of passengers to miss their flights, as well as the associated reputational damage to brand Ireland."

According to them, the requested price increase was "beyond precedent" and would have resulted in Ryanair ceasing all operations at the airport if Dublin Airport did not have such significant market share in Ireland.

"Ryanair will be obliged to terminate new and low margin routes (especially in the weaker Winter and shoulder times), focusing instead on established big city pairings and peak sun and leisure," the letter stated. "All of this will lead to an inefficient use of current infrastructure and workforce."

When questioned about the correspondence, Ryanair stated that they had nothing more to say and the Commission for Aviation Regulation stated that they had nothing else to contribute.

According to a DAA spokesman, it is essential to ensure that aeronautical fees are established at an acceptable level in order to give the kind of service that travellers and airlines demand and deserve at Dublin Airport. In comparison to other airports, Dublin Airport's airport fees are already incredibly inexpensive.

He acknowledged that the summer had been difficult for Dublin Airport, but by the beginning of August, almost all passengers were passing through security screening in under thirty minutes.

"While any change in aeronautical charges has virtually no noticeable influence on the cost of an airline ticket, it has a considerable impact on the level of service in the short term and the level of capacity that the airport is able to accommodate in the medium term," the speaker continued.

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