The Friday Interview:Aside from his €688,000 salary, there are few reasons to envy Declan Collier his job as chief executive of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA).
If it's not being slagged off in public by Ryanair, its biggest customer, the DAA is probably getting it in the neck from passengers whose nerves have been frazzled by the congestion at Dublin airport.
If he wants to get any major projects approved, Collier invariably has to do a political dance around the aviation regulator and the Minister for Transport while hoping that the planning gods will be good to him.
Two years into the job and Collier admits that the strains do get to him, but overall he's pretty happy with his lot.
"The challenges of the job don't get any easier," he says. "They range from the regulation and planning right down to maintaining relationships with one of the world's most efficient and challenging aviation companies, Ryanair.
"That, in its own right, would be a difficult challenge if we weren't also facing the huge infrastructural deficits and constraints that we have in Dublin airport. But the job remains very fulfilling, very interesting."
Dublin airport last year handled 21.2 million passengers. This year the figure is set to rise to about 23 million and the existing terminal is creaking under the strain. DAA has drawn up a €2 billion development plan for the complex, that includes a second terminal, a new runway and better passenger facilities.
Terminal 2 was due to open in November 2009 but is bogged down in planning delays. If An Bord Pleanála does not give it the green light by the end of this month, Collier has warned that it will be March 2010, at the earliest, before it opens.
By then, the airport will be handling about 26 million passengers. Each month's delay will cost about €3 million, he says.
The new terminal is also vital for the health of "Ireland Inc" and would boost the national income by €1 billion, according to Collier.
Michael O'Leary describes it as a "gold-plated" waste of money, arguing that it will be bigger than the existing terminal yet handle fewer passengers.
Collier rejects this assessment. "We didn't just magic this out of thin air," he says. "It's not a grandiose scheme. We did it after extensive consultations with all the airlines about their expansion plans, including Ryanair. We're simply fulfilling the requirements of the airlines.
He says Ryanair's view represents "a blind adherence" to economics and mathematics. "You're talking about passenger comfort, about processing and about efficiency."
DAA projections estimate that 35 million people will be using Dublin airport by 2025. Collier argues that it's prudent to build big now in anticipation of that demand rather than by adding bits on piecemeal afterwards.
"We wanted to avoid the Irish problem of building a little bit now and, when the demand comes, 'sure we'll build a bit more'. That's why we end up with motorways with two lanes and not three or four."
T2 will also facilitate the expansion of long-haul services from Dublin. Collier says three additional airlines in the United States want to operate from here when Open Skies becomes a reality. Airlines in Canada and Mexico are also in talks with Dublin while, to the east, Emirates, Thai and Singapore airways are also eyeing Dublin.
"They will only come here if the new terminal is built."
Collier rejects the notion that air travel will decline over the next decade as oil becomes a scarcer commodity and fuel prices soar. That theory featured prominently in George Lee's documentary on oil broadcast on RTÉ One earlier this week.
The so-called peak oil doomsday scenario is dismissed by Collier. "No doubt there will be some impact on the system but I don't see tumbleweed blowing through Dublin airport any time in the near future."
Collier believes it will be at least 30 years before we reach a scenario where oil prices are at a level that would harm aviation.
He should know, having spent 25 years with Exxon Mobil. At one point, he headed Esso's Irish operation, which he says was the most profitable affiliate Exxon then had. "We slipped under the radar and made our money," he says.
There's no avoiding the radar with the DAA. Collier says Ryanair invariably objects to any planning permission the DAA seeks, no matter how small. Ryanair also keeps banging on about airport charges.
The DAA recently asked for a price rise to €7.50 a passenger for the next three years and €8.50 for the period after that.
Aviation regulator Cathal Guiomard declined the request but said the DAA could have a price rise when T2 is up and running.
Collier rejects the notion that Dublin's airport charges are too high. "It's in Michael's [ O'Leary] interest to tell the world that it is expensive but the facts just belie that. Look at what the regulator has recently said, one of his key objectives is to keep charges down in Dublin airport.
"I think it's as a result of a significant amount of pressure being brought by Ryanair. They are one of the key airlines in Dublin and carry a lot of weight in the regulator's calculations about where airport charges should go."
Collier believes the debate is a lot of hot air, arguing that the passenger not the airline pays the charge and that at the end of the day, the increase sought by the DAA equated to no more than the cost of a cup of coffee. "It's just mad," he says. "We could be doing so much better things with our lives."
DAA had a good year in 2006. Turnover rose by 12 per cent to €591 million while its underlying profit was up 39 per cent to €70 million.
It also made a profit of €125 million on the sale of its loss-making Great Southern Hotels chain and, after much painstaking negotiation, agreed a €31.5 million restructuring package at Shannon airport that will dramatically reduce the cost base there.
The DAA is also on the cusp of netting €305 million from the sale of its 24 per cent stake in Birmingham airport. That deal would leave DAA would a 20 per cent holding in Dusseldorf and a share in a joint venture in Cyprus that owns 11 per cent of two airports being built there. Collier says there will be no further sales of overseas assets.
Closer to home, Collier hopes to get on with the job of building T2 soon. "We need this infrastructure if we're to continue to grow."
On The Record
Name:Declan Collier
Job:Chief executive of Dublin Airport Authority
Age: 52
Family:Married with a daughter
Something that might surprise:Played football for charity team managed by Jack Charlton
Something you might expect:Member of European board of Airports Council
Interests:Reading, cycling
Why in the news?DAA has warned that the new Terminal 2 at Dublin airport would not meet its 2009 deadline unless An Bord Pleanála approved the project by the end of June
