Varadkar rules out rebranding of Dublin Airport Authority

A rebranding of the Dublin Airport Authority has been ruled out after the cost was estimated at €3 million, Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has said.

He said the DAA had carried out consumer research on rebranding.

“The response to a proposed name change was firmly negative and considered to be unnecessary, unwarranted, a waste of money and potentially damaging to the reputations of the Dublin Airport Authority and Government.”

In a Seanad debate on the State Airports (Shannon Group) Bill 2014, Mr Varadkar said the original cost of changing the name from Aer Rianta to the Dublin Airport Authority was €4 million.

“The company investigated what it would cost to rebrand the authority and considered a number of new names as well as the option of reverting to Aer Rianta.”

Mr Varadkar said: “However, the estimated cost of such a rebranding was €3 million, a large sum in the current circumstances.”

The Minister said that “the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, was a misnomer from the day the new body was established”.

“It was given this name because it was intended at the time to separate Shannon airport and Cork airport almost immediately and sell off Aer Rianta International, ARI, the retail element which consists of shops, duty free operations and other activities in which ARI engages around the world.”

On Cork airport, Mr Varadkar said the new legislation provided a mechanism for Cork airport to become independent.

However, he said if Cork airport secured its independence now the airport “would immediately be loss-making”.

“Unlike Shannon airport, Cork airport’s operating costs substantially exceed its revenues … To operate on a commercial basis it would require significant redundancies and/or pay cuts, which nobody is proposing.”