New incentive scheme to encourage airlines to grow traffic at Dublin Airport

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has unveiled a major new financial incentive scheme to encourage traffic growth at Dublin Airport this year.

Dublin Airport Terminal 1

The Dublin Airport Growth Incentive Scheme, which was launched to airlines today, will see Dublin Airport effectively waiving all airport charges for passenger traffic once a threshold of 19.5 million passengers has been reached.

If the passenger target of 19.5 million is surpassed, the DAA will subsequently refund the airport charges for all of the additional passenger traffic to its airline customers.

The DAA has also today expanded the already generous financial supports that it provides to airlines launching new short-haul routes from Dublin. The short haul route support scheme, which previously has specific geographic constraints, has now been extended to cover any new qualifying route from Dublin Airport.

Under this support scheme, airlines receive a 100% discount on airport charges for the first year of any new route, a 75% discount on charges for the second year of operation, and a 50% discount on charges in year three.

Dublin Airport’s existing long-haul route support scheme, which offers five years of discounts on passenger charges ranging from 100% to 25%, for new long-haul routes is also being maintained.

Dublin Airport Director Robert Hilliard said Dublin Airport had substantially expanded its support mechanisms to encourage its airline customers to retain and grow their operations from Dublin. “This is a broad package of generous incentives and I would urge all of our customers to examine how these schemes can benefit their individual operations at Dublin,” Mr Hilliard said. “If airlines maintain last year’s traffic, one million travellers will pass through Dublin Airport free of charge in 2010.”

“Airport charges at Dublin are hugely competitive compared to our European peers and the addition of these new and expanded financial incentives makes Dublin an even more attractive location,” he added. “We want to work together with all of our airline customers to maximise the level of traffic at Dublin,” Mr Hilliard said.

The Commission for Aviation Regulator (CAR), which regulates charges at Dublin Airport, has set the maximum price cap for this year at €9.32. Under the new Growth Incentive Scheme, the DAA will effectively rebate the amount charged for each passenger over and above the 19.5 million threshold set within the scheme.

The 19.5 million passenger threshold for the scheme is 5% below Dublin Airport’s traffic level for last year, when 20.5 million passengers used the airport, and is significantly less than the traffic level at the airport in 2006. The threshold of 19.5 million passengers is also the basis on which the aviation regulator set its airport charge for this year.