Fine Gael's proposal to build a second airport in Dublin is insane and would be a waste of money, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said yesterday.

"Dublin is a city with a population of about two million people which is not sufficient to sustain a second airport," said Mr O'Leary.

"The amount of investment that would be required in developing a second airport would be a scandalous waste of money and, in terms of stupid transport investments, would rank up there somewhere close to the airport metro, which is another €1.6 billion waste of money."

A second airport at Baldonnel in south Dublin was unlikely to get through planning, he said.

"It is certainly not going to happen in Baldonnel."

"The runway is too short, it hasn't got the avionics and the weather record in Baldonnel is particularly bad."

He also said Ryanair had no plans to move its check-in facilities in Dublin to the basement area of the airport and would not consider such a move without some incentive in the form of reduced terminal charges from the Dublin Airport Authority.

Mr O'Leary said it was too early to give any details on plans for fuel hedging despite the drop in oil prices. However, he criticised other airlines for operating what he said was a "fuel surcharge scam" in light of falling oil prices which have now dropped to an 18-month low of $54 (€41.50) a barrel.

"They said they would review surcharges when oil prices fell, but still high fuel surcharges remain," he said.

Mr O'Leary was speaking at Ryanair's launch of two new routes from Dublin to Bydgoszcz and Gdansk in Poland and increased frequencies from Dublin to other routes.