Ryanair applies for judicial review of regulator's decision on slots at Dublin Airport

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Ryanair, Europe's largest low fares airline, today (Monday, 5th March 2007) confirmed that it had applied to the High Court for a judicial review of the Commission for Aviation Regulation's (CAR's) recent decision to needlessly impose full slot coordination at Dublin Airport.

This is the second time that Ryanair has been forced to resort to the courts to prevent this Regulator from limiting growth and promoting inefficiency at Dublin Airport. By needlessly imposing coordination at Dublin Airport, the Regulator is allowing the monopoly airport operator to restrict capacity and increase prices. This is exactly what this Regulator is supposed to prevent.

Last year, Ryanair had a similar decision by the CAR overturned by the High Court where the Court found that the CAR had failed to follow the required steps proscribed by the European Regulation on slot coordination. Dublin Airport is an airport with two runways catering for just 20 million passengers per annum and there is ample room for growth. By contrast, Gatwick Airport has just one runway and caters for twice as many passengers - almost 40 million.

Commenting today, Ryanair's Head of Regulatory Affairs, Jim Callaghan, said:

"This is a further indication that the CAR is not serious about regulating the Dublin Airport monopoly. The fact that Dublin Airport already has two runways and is only handling 20 million passengers per annum whereas Gatwick is handling 40 million on one runway makes this latest decision a complete nonsense.

"DAA and its predecessor, Aer Rianta, have been attempting for the past 7 years to get full coordination at Dublin Airport because it restricts capacity so that they can build further gold plated facilities and massively increase prices for consumers. Prices in Dublin Airport are set to double if the DAA is allowed to pursue its €2 billion investment and sadly this ineffective Regulator shows no appetite for regulating this inefficient, high cost monopoly. Airlines are either ignored or forced to resort to legal action.

"The mess in Cork airport and the DAA's plans to waste another €750 million white elephant second terminal in Dublin are clear indications that airport regulation has failed in Ireland."

Date posted: 06-Mar-07