Airlines and other operators face increased charges for aircraft using Irish airspace following a regulators’ review of air navigation body Airnav Ireland’s likely costs.
Safety and consumer overseer, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), proposes allowing the air traffic control body to increase its fees over the next five years.
Next year, the authority expects AirNav Ireland’s “en route” unit charges to increase to €33.52 from €28.78 now and to reach €36.05 by 2029.
The unit charge is imposed for every 100km of Irish airspace covered by an individual flight through the country’s skies. It also applies once an aircraft is 20km from an airport.
The IAA expects the terminal unit rate, charged for air traffic control services at or near airports, such as the control tower, to slip to €170.22 next year from €184.90 now.
However, that rate will increase again to reach €185.36 by 2029, the authority calculates. The terminal rate is charged for each flight at an airport.
As well as guiding flights to and from Irish airports, AirNav also manages flights through Irish airspace that do not land here.
Irish skies are among Europe’s busiest as many transatlantic flights pass over the country and through its airspace, which measures 450,500 sq km, against 84,000 sq km for Ireland itself, and stretches halfway across the Atlantic.
As it is the favoured route between Europe and North America, AirNav Ireland is responsible for guiding a large share of transatlantic traffic. The agency collaborates with its British, Canadian and Icelandic counterparts.
The IAA calculates that the total cost of providing all the necessary services will be €1.08 billion from next year to 2029.
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That figure includes the €922 million that AirNav Ireland is likely to need over that time to run its operation and for investment.
It also covers €58.3 million for Met Éireann’s aviation services division. The remaining €97 million includes the IAA’s supervision charges, State policy costs and those of EU air traffic body, Eurocontrol.
An IAA statement confirmed that the “costs all relate to the provision or oversight of air traffic services”.
The regulator expects traffic through airspace and at airports to continue growing over the next five years.
The authority forecasts 6.3 per cent growth at airports overall this year, 4.7 per cent in 2025, with slower expansion, between 2.1 per cent and 2.9 per cent, up to 2029.
Traffic through Irish airspace is likely to reflect that, the authority believes. It forecasts that this will be up almost 5 per cent this year, 2.5 per cent in 2025 and subsequent growth of between 1.6 per cent and 2 per cent up to 2029.
AirNav Ireland formally split from the IAA to become an independent last year in a shake-up of air traffic regulation. At the same time, the IAA absorbed the old commission for aviation regulation.
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