THE Department of Finance will shortly give Aer Rianta the go-ahead for a £100 million extension to Dublin Airport, the company's chief executive Mr Derek Keogh has said.
The Department's representative at Aer Rianta's annual general meeting indicated that the permission would come through shortly, Mr Keogh said yesterday.
it will be the biggest expansion at Dublin Airport since the existing terminal was opened in 1971.
A record eight million passengers used the airport last year a 5 per cent increase on the previous year. The airport returned a surplus of £33.6 million.
Traffic is expected to grow at such a pace that Dublin will need to be able to cater for between 13 million and 14 million passengers within a relatively short period of time.
The development will see the existing terminal increase in size by more than 60 per cent. it will include a new passenger handling pier, which will be built to the south of the terminal building.
Aer Rianta chairman, Mr Noel Hanlon, said the increase in passengers was placing a strain on the existing infrastructure which would have to be relieved.
He warned that passengers would face inevitable disruption during this major construction but they would ensure that the disruption was minimal.
The Government rejected an alternative proposal by Dr Tony Ryan, chairman of Ryanair, that Dublin's expanding air traffic needs could be accommodated by a privately-financed commercial airport at Baldonnel.
Mr Keogh defended Aer Rianta's charges, which Dr Ryan has often criticised as excessive.
Mr Keogh said Ryanair's claim that it paid £10 million annually at Dublin was untrue. "They pay £6.5 million and about £1 million of that goes to the Irish Aviation Authority. So we get £5.5 million."
A spokeswoman for Ryanair said yesterday, however, that Dublin is the most expensive airport of the 10 it flies into.
Mr Keogh said he was surprised at similar criticism voiced last week by Sir Michael Bishop, chairman of British Midland. "Sir Michael had never complained about our charges before".
Mr Keogh said he had written to Sir Michael showing that exhaustive independent studies had proved Dublin was one of the cheapest airports in Europe.
