Tag Archives: DAA

DUBLIN Airport’s dominance of Irish aviation has seen other airports, including Shannon, decline or stagnate for years, but now that Dublin can’t cope, Sinn Féín wants the employees from competitors to save it. On Morning Ireland this Wednesday, its Transport spokesman Darren O’Rourke said employees from other airports should be deployed to Dublin. “In the first instance what I would say to the DAA and to Ministers (Eamon) Ryan and (Hildegarde) Naughton, is that they need to look within the resources of Dublin Airport, they need to look within the resources of the DAA group which includes Cork Airport, they also need to look within the resources of airports around the country,” Deputy O’Rourke told the presenter. “What we need is people who have sufficient experience and expertise to work these systems and every available person who has that skill set should be considered at this point in time. It really is a case of an emergency and an emergency …

WHILE there has been a certain amount of improvement in queueing times at Dublin Airport in recent days, scenes of congestion and stories of long waits will undoubtedly remain in the public’s mind for some time. The difficulties at Dublin are in stark contrast to the ease of using Shannon, or indeed several other airports around the country. Limerick Chamber of Commerce has now called on the Department of Transport to compel the DAA to work with other Irish airports to solve the difficulties and to ensure that passenger delays are minimised. It’s a view that has previously been expressed by a number of political and business interests in the region, as Dublin has clearly been unable to cater for what it has, while Shannon badly needs more passengers. Limerick Chamber CEO Dee Ryan said that the Department of Transport needs to take a role if Dublin is not willing to explore the possibility of flights going to other airports. …

DUBLIN Airport acted as a predator feasting on Shannon, but is now seeing the results of its own greed, Fianna Fáil’s Timmy Dooley has claimed in the Senate. Senator Dooley referenced a Tweet from the Dublin Airport Authority Twitter account effectively telling customers that if they are travelling at peak times they should expect delays of approximately three and a half hours. “An addendum advised that if people happened to be bringing a car, they should add another half an hour. For the premier airport in the State to find itself in that situation is appalling, and there is a reason for it finding itself there. “It has engaged in predatory practices in attracting airlines and passengers to dominate the entire sector. Airports such as Shannon have been left to wither on the vine,” he said. The East Clare based senator added, “There was massive growth in passenger traffic prior to 2019. Dublin got the bulk of it and Cork, …

Incoming DAA chair highlights M20 as another ‘threat’ to Shannon DUBLIN Airport does look on Shannon as a competitor, the Oireachtas Transport and Communications committee heard recently from Basil Geoghegan, the chairperson designate of the DAA. Both Dublin and Cork Airport are under the remit of the DAA and while being questioned by Limerick TD Kieran O’Donnell, Mr Geoghegan said it was “clear to me that we are set up to compete with Shannon and if we didn’t we’d have an anti-trust regulator saying to us ‘what are you doing?’ “In fact the biggest competition for Shannon is Cork, maybe it’s a positive that the motorway hasn’t been finished between Shannon and Cork, I’m not sure.” He said that the improvements in infrastructure over the last ten years have actually made things more difficult for airports other than Dublin. “In a way the connectivity by better motorways, has meant that both for Cork and Shannon, Dublin is more of a …

CLARE TD Violet Anne Wynne has called for Ryanair to commit to restoring Shannon services in 2021. “In the week were the Government committed around €5m to Shannon Airport along with their pledge to sign up to the EU Traffic Light system in Tuesday’s budget it would appear this may be a case of too little too late. While I understand that this decision was made on a commercial bases it is imperative that Ryanair commit to reopening their Shannon bases after the winter lockdown,” she said. “One would have to question how their Dublin base is not at all effected. I feel again that this shows that Shannon as a standalone airport does not have the bargaining power of the DAA,” she added. However, Cork Airport is still part of the DAA group and that too has been closed, showing a certain flaw in Ms Wynne’s argument for reintegration with the other State airports.

SHANNON Airport will not be going back under the Dublin Airport Authority, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has confirmed. While Shannon Airport struggled when part of the DAA, it has also failed to reach targets set for it at the time it separated at the end of 2012. While 2020 had been set to be Shannon’s best year since separation, the onset of the pandemic has seen calls from Sinn Féin and some trade union elements for the airport to go back under the DAA. However in the Dáíl, in response to a statement from Limerick TD Maurice Quinlivan, who argued that Shannon needs to go back under the DAA, the Minister said, “I believe Deputy Quinlivan said that Shannon Airport should be regrouped under the DAA. I will be honest. I met the unions based in the airport. I felt that change would take two or three years and would not solve the underlying strategic issues. We have to make …

SHANNON Airport is set to record a decrease in its number of passengers this year, unless there is a late improvement. Figures for the first three-quarters of 2017 show the number of passengers was 5.2% less than for the first three-quarters of 2016. It is a disappointing state of affairs, almost five years after its separation from the Dublin Airport Authority. According to the CSO statistics, 1,257,996 passengers were handled by Shannon in the first nine months of the year. This was almost 70,000 below the figure of 1,327,313 for the same period of 2016. It was also lower than the 1,297,080 that travelled through the airport in the first nine months of 2015. When Shannon was separated from Dublin, its business plan was to have 2.3 million passengers per annum in 2017, a figure the airport is very far away from achieving. The decline in passenger numbers at Shannon is in marked contrast to the other airports for which …

THE Dublin Airport Authority’s (DAA) Shared Services Centre, which employs 56 people at Shannon, is about to transfer to Limerick. Clare TD Timmy Dooley said he is disappointed that Shannon Group haven’t managed to accommodate Shared Services. In a DAA statement this week, it noted, “DAA’s Shared Services Centre, which currently employs 56 people at Shannon Airport, informed staff and stakeholders last November that it is to relocate its operations to a new office development in Plassey Technology Park in Limerick”. Outlining the thinking behind the move, the DAA added, “The move to the new offices will provide a more modern, fit-for-purpose location for Shared Services. “Shared Services has outgrown its existing premises and this move will provide the business with a suitable base to continue to develop and expand the services that it provides to the DAA group. The move to its new location should be completed in the second half of the year.” DAA’s Shared Services provides a …