Dublin Airport Authority

Dublin Airport Authority plc

Type	Public
Founded	1937 (as Aer Rianta Teoranta)
Headquarters	Dublin Airport, Fingal, Republic of Ireland

Dublin Airport Authority building at Dublin Airport

Dublin Airport Authority plc (DAA) (Irish: Údaras Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath cpt) is the state-owned airport authority in the Republic of Ireland. With a head office on the grounds of Dublin Airport in Fingal, County Dublin,^[1] the authority also owned the Great Southern Hotels which had nine sites throughout the island of Ireland (until its sale in 2006) and international investments are held by Aer Rianta International. The authority runs Dublin Airport and controls the Cork Airport Authority and the Shannon Airport Authority which are responsible for Cork Airport and Shannon Airport.

History

Aer Rianta

Aer Rianta was founded in 1937 as Aer Rianta Teoranta and the name is derived from the Irish language for "air ways" or "air tracks"; Teoranta is the Irish word for Limited. Aer Rianta was to serve as a holding company for the national airline and to promote aviation generally.

Aer Rianta was the principal shareholder of Aer Lingus during the airline's early days, until 1966. Aer Rianta had control of Dublin Airport from its start although this was not formally or legally recognised until the passage of the Air Navigation and Transport Act of 1950. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Airport Manager at Dublin Airport, who was officially an employee of Aer Rianta, was also part of the Aer Lingus management team and reported to the Assistant General Manager of that company. In 1954, Prof. Patrick Lynch was appointed chairman of Aer Rianta at the young age of 38, taking on the task of turning the £60,000 deficit of the companies into a profit. He was Chairman for 21 years to 1975, and retired from that position at his own request to the Government of the day.^[2] It was during this time that the Department of Transport and Power turned its attention to the long-term organisation of the three state airports. Due to the increasing complexity and costs associated with managing airports, and also due in no small part to the growth of non-aviation services (most notably Duty Free sales), the need was felt in Ireland to establish one independent operation to manage Ireland's airports.

In 1966, the passage of the Air Companies Act in 1966 enabled the transfer of Aer Lingus shares to the Minister of Finance, and separate boards were appointed to each company. A general manager of Aer Rianta was appointed in 1968. On April 1, 1969, Cork and Shannon airports became the responsibility of the company.

In 1988 Aer Rianta International was created to pursue international potential to the company's growth not related to Irish airport management - for example, opening Russia's first duty free in Moscow in 1988. In 1998 Aer Rianta Teoranta became Aer Rianta cpt and kept this name until 2004.

Dublin Airport Authority

In 2004, the Oireachtas passed the State Airports Act, 2004. This renamed Aer Rianta cpt as Dublin Airport Authority plc, and established Shannon Airport Authority plc and Cork Airport Authority plc. The three new authorities have power to formulate business plans for their respective airports, however they will not take charge of running the airports until further date to be determined by the Minister for Transport, which by law would not be before 1 May 2005. As of 2008^[update] this had yet to take place. Significant outstanding issues to be resolved include competitiveness and debit restructuring.

The company also retains its significant shareholdings in foreign airports such as Düsseldorf and Larnaca, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Aer Rianta International, which still retains the Aer Rianta name.

The State Airports Act was heavily criticised by Noel Hanlon, the outgoing chairman of Aer Rianta, and by the company's unions, who believed it a precursor to privatisation. No act to privatise Dublin Airport Authority or any of the airports has been passed however.

The current chairman of Dublin Airport Authority is David Dilger.

Great Southern Hotels

In 1990 the nine Great Southern Hotels were purchased from Córas Iompair Éireann, including Derry, Northern Ireland.

In 2006, the Authority sold the nine Great Southern Hotels by trade sale, with the three airport hotels becoming CG Hotels, the Galway hotels being sold to Monogram Hotels, the Rosslare one becoming the St Helen's Hotel, and the Derry one becoming the City Hotel. CG Hotels later signed a management contract with Rezidor Hotel Group leading to both the Dublin and Cork hotels being rebranded Radisson SAS. The Shannon hotel became a Park Inn.

Board of Directors of the DAA

The DAA has a 13 person Board of Directors. David Dilger is appointed as the chairman of the board. Before joining the DAA Dilger was CEO of the Greencore Group where he was CEO for over 10 years. Dilger was also member of the board of the Bank of Ireland and member of Enterprise Ireland. Besides chairman Dilger some other members of the Board of Directors are:

• Peter Barret: Barret started his career with Anderson Consulting (currently known as Accenture) and has a background in airline-financing via the Aircraft leasing department of the Royal Bank of Scotland and the KBC Bank
• Declan Collier was CEO of the DAA since 2005. Before that date he worked for ExxonMobil
• Thomas Guilfoyle is member via the Worker Participation (State Enterprise) Acts, 1977 to 2001. Since 2001 he works a qualified electrician at Shannon Airport
• Mary McCabe is since December 2008 another appointee via the Worker Participation Act (WPA).
• Batty Nevin is the 3rd member of the BoD for DAA via the WPA. Since 1990 he has been a member of Airport Police (Ireland) based in Dublin Airport.
• Sir Michael Hodgkinson has been member of the BoD of the British Airport Authority.
• Bryan O'Connel is as chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority member of the DAA BoD.
• Geryy Wals is as chairman of the Cork Airport Authority member of the DAA BoD.

Besides these named members the other members of the BoD have been appointed because of their knowledge of the airlines-business, senior politician or appointed for another reason.^[3]

Airports

• Cork Airport is Ireland's second biggest Airport.
• Handled 2.8m passengers in 2009.^[4]
• Following recent announcements, in total 15 new routes have been launched from Cork by Aer Lingus ^[5] and Ryanair ^[6] Passenger numbers are believed to continue to decline although to a lessor extent from 2009.

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• Dublin Airport is Ireland's biggest Airport.
• Handled 20.5m passengers in 2009.^[7]
• The Airport is a global hub for US, European and International traffic, The slump in Air Travel has hit Dublin hard like many European airports, Figures fell by 12.6% from the high of 23.5 million passengers in 2008. It is expected that passenger numbers will continue to decline in 2010.

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• Shannon Airport is Ireland's third biggest Airport.
• Handled 2.5m passengers in 2009.^[8]
• The Airport serves mainly Limerick and the West of Ireland, The slump in Air Travel caused by the global recession has collapsed passenger numbers at Shannon, Figures for 2009 fell by 12% with even worse predictions for 2010. The collapse in passenger numbers was greatly contributed to by Ryanair.^[9]

Notes

1. ^ "Contact Us." Dublin Airport Authority. Retrieved on 7 July 2010.
2. ^ Patrick Lynch (Irish economist)
3. ^ DAA website Board of Directors, visited 29 April, 2011
4. ^ CORK AIRPORT 2009.
5. ^ AER LINGUS LAUNCH BIGGEST SUMMER PROGRAMME EVER FROM CORK FOR SUMMER 2010.
6. ^ RYANAIR LAUNCH 7 NEW ROUTES FROM CORK FOR SUMMER 2010.
7. ^ DUBLIN AIRPORT 2009
8. ^ SHANNON AIRPORT 2009
9. ^ RYANAIR REDUCE SHANNON BASE BY 75%.

External links

	Ireland portal
	Aviation portal

• Aer Rianta International
• Dublin Airport Authority
• Shannon Airport Guide