The Commission for Aviation Regulation's draft proposals on airport charges fail to achieve any of the objectives set for the regulator in legislation, low fares airline Ryanair will tell an open meeting on the charges today.
In its submission to the regulator - at a meeting in the Great Southern Hotel at Dublin Airport - Ryanair will say the draft proposals will lead to higher costs and damage traffic growth.
The regulator's proposal provides for an increase in charges at Cork Airport by a maximum of 94 per cent to £7.15 per workload unit, while Aer Rianta could increase charges by 37 per cent at Shannon to a maximum of £6.05 and by 9 per cent at Dublin Airport to £4.96 per workload unit.
The workload unit is an international standard and equals the movement of one passenger or 0.1 tonnes of cargo.
"It is quite clear that the regulator's own draft proposals will result in higher costs, greater inefficiency and further declines in traffic at the Aer Rianta monopoly airports," said Ryanair's chief executive, Mr Michael O'Leary.
"The regulator's draft report fails miserably to facilitate the development and operation of cost-effective airports which meet the requirements of users, and unless his final report meets this statutory obligation, then we will be calling on him to resign his position and allow someone who is willing to challenge the Aer Rianta monopoly - and promote the needs of airport users - to take over."
The proposed increases in airport charges are tied to Aer Rianta's capital expenditure programme but are based on the regulator's own estimate of the investment requirements at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports.
The regulator's draft document said, with the exception of projects required for safety reasons, Aer Rianta had not justified its planned capital expenditure.
But Ryanair criticised what it claimed was the regulator's acceptance of the capital expenditure proposals put forward by Aer Rianta, which it said included the construction of a £100 million internal railway system at Dublin Airport.
Meanwhile, the Irish Hotels Federation warned that international competitiveness could suffer and many of the 150,000 jobs dependent on tourism could be put at risk if the regulator's proposed airport charge system is implemented.
In an oral submission to the regulator, federation chief executive Mr John Power described the model outlined in the draft paper, Proposed Maximum Levels of Airport Charges, as an arithmetical exercise which did not take into account the importance of air access to an island country.
Describing the method of calculating and passing on the charges as "absurd", Mr Power said Ireland could become an unattractive destination for airline carriers and their passengers if the proposed charging system was not changed.
"The current proposals also ignore the important role of competitive low-cost air carriers, which have a particular relevance in providing access into Ireland, an island with no land connection to Europe," he said.
"We are calling on the Minister as a matter of extreme urgency to instruct the commission to carry out a study on all the implications before adopting the proposed system and make necessary amendments to the system before irreparable damage is caused to our industry."
