Ryanair calls for break up of DAA Monopoly as Gatwick is sold
21-Oct-2009 Ryanair today (21st Oct 09) called for the break up of the high cost Government owned DAA monopoly, as the UK BAA monopoly was finally broken up with the sale of Gatwick Airport for £1.5bn.
The sale of Gatwick Airport is the first step in the break up of the high cost BAA airport monopoly, a break up which was recommended by the UK Competition Commission whose investigation of the BAA monopoly found that the airport monopoly had stifled competition, damaged consumer interest and damaged UK tourism.
Ryanair called again for the Irish DAA monopoly to be broken up with Cork and Shannon being sold off and a competing low cost terminal built at Dublin Airport. Ryanair believes that competition is the only way to reverse the damage being done to Irish traffic and tourism by the high cost DAA monopoly. In a year when Ryanair will grow by almost 9 million passengers, the DAA's high costs and its policy of ignoring its customers' wishes will result in 3 million passengers being lost at Dublin and 1 million passengers being lost between Cork and Shannon airports as well. Even Aer Lingus is growing traffic in the current recession, while the DAA monopoly is losing millions of passengers and thousands of jobs.
Ryanair's Michael O'Leary said:
"We welcome today's sale of Gatwick Airport which is the first step in breaking up the BAA monopoly and delivering a better service and a better deal for customers. Irish tourism urgently needs to follow this UK model, by breaking up the high cost, inefficient DAA monopoly.
"The fact that Gatwick Airport, one of the world's biggest international airports, with two terminals and over 32 million passengers annually is being sold for £1.5bn exposes the extraordinary waste which the DAA is engaged in at Dublin where they have squandered €1.2bn developing a second terminal which is neither needed nor justified at a time when the existing terminal in Dublin (with the addition of Pier D) has a capacity of 30 million passengers annually, but traffic is falling to just 20 million this year.
"Ryanair has long campaigned for a low cost competing terminal at Dublin Airport which could be built for €100m, and would secure Dublin Airport's future as a low cost destination. It's time to break up the DAA monopoly now".