Plan for massive airport growth

THE Dublin Airport Authority (daa) has started formal consultations on a major capital investment programme that includes a €900 million capacity plan to help the airport grow to 40 million passengers a year. 

The daa is proposing to invest about €400 million between 2020 and 2024 to deliver new capacity in the northern end of the airport close to Terminal 1, while about €500 million will be invested at the southern apron area close to Terminal 2.

The €900 million investment will deliver new boarding gate areas, aircraft parking stands and many other significant improvements.

Separately, the contract for the new North Runway will be awarded shortly.

The €900 million package is part of wider plan that also includes €200 million of airfield works and a €120 million annual spend on repair and maintenance and revenue generating projects.

The daa say these investments will be made at no cost to passengers, as airport charges will remain flat during the forthcoming regulatory period.

“These are shovel-ready projects that will address the capacity issues created by eight years of strong passenger growth at Dublin Airport and position us for the future,” said daa Chief Executive, Dalton Philips.

“This plan has been designed to meet the needs of our airline customers, allowing them to continue to grow their business at Dublin Airport, which will boost tourism, trade and foreign direct investment throughout Ireland.

“Our airport charges are 30-40 percent cheaper than our airport peers and we are not expecting any increase in charges, despite the very significant investments that we are planning.”

The daa has issued a 628-page formal consultation document on its investment plans for 2020-2024 to airlines and other airport users.

This plan, which was devised following pre-consultation discussions with stakeholders, will now enter a formal consultation process as part of the aviation regulator’s airport charges setting determination for the next five-year period.

The daa will have a series of meetings and discussions with airport users in the coming weeks, before submitting its final capital plan to the Commission for Aviation Regulator (CAR).

This will feed into CAR’s draft determination on airport charges for the 2020-2024 period, which is expected to be published next April.