Dublin Airport is now the worst in Europe for flight delays, with more than one in four planes taking off at least 15 minutes late, say official figures.
It has slumped to bottom of the European punctuality league at a time when airports across the continent have dramatically improved time-keeping because of the reduced number of flights operating since September 11th.
By contrast, Dublin is one of only three major airports which turned in worse performances for the second quarter of this year compared with the equivalent period in 2001.
The survey, by the Association of European Airlines (AEA), shows that 27.6 per cent of Dublin departures were delayed by at least a quarter of an hour between April and June, compared with 26.7 for each of the next worst performers, Rome and London Gatwick. Madrid was fourth worst at 23.8. Of the 27 airports in the survey, Oslo, Stockholm and Geneva performed best.
The AEA noted that Dublin was normally in the other half of the punctuality table, along with Gatwick. But its slump coincided with a dramatic improvement in the average European performance, with only 14.7 per cent of flights delayed in May, the lowest monthly figure since early 1998.
Aer Rianta blamed the airlines, while Ryanair blamed Aer Rianta, saying the figures underlined the criticisms it had been making for five years about the airport's "abject facilities".
Aer Lingus attributed many of the delays to a new air traffic control system in London, the destination or flight path of most departures. A spokesman said this was the "main difference" the airline had noticed this year.
But the Air Transport Users Council of the Chambers of Commerce in Ireland called on the Minister for Transport to mount an inquiry into the airport's performance. Council chairman Mr Tadgh Kearney said it was "unacceptable that despite the huge amounts of money spent on Dublin Airport, standards of service and punctuality are going down and down, almost to Third World levels.
"It's bad enough when you have problems getting to the airport - and that includes everything from congestion to parking costs. But now we seem to have big problems getting out, with knock-on effects for those trying to make connections. This is the sort of thing that affects a country's reputation."
