Dublin Airport’s T2 To Welcome Test Flights in October
April 27 2010
New Terminal Opens in Mid-November
The first passengers are expected to use Dublin Airport’s new Terminal Two
in October as part of the testing process for the new facility, the Dublin
Airport Authority (DAA) has indicated.
DAA chief executive Declan Collier said trial flights would use T2 from
October in the run up to the opening of the new terminal in November of this
year. “The main construction phase of T2 is now almost complete and we will
shortly begin a detailed series of operational trials to test all of the systems
and processes in the new terminal,” he added.
T2 will transform the passenger experience at Dublin Airport, offering
customers a modern user-friendly facility that will provide a platform for a
more rapid return to growth, Mr Collier said.
He was speaking as the DAA published its financial results for 2009, which
showed that excluding exceptional items, Group profits fell by 51% last year to
€38 million, as the recession had a significant impact on its business both in
Ireland and overseas.
“The Irish economy has been particularly hard hit by the downturn, causing a
sharp decline in passenger numbers and consumer spending last year which had a
significant impact on our business,” Mr Collier said. Turnover declined by
13% during the year to €547 million, as passenger numbers at Dublin, Cork and
Shannon airports fell by 13% to 26.1 million.
The DAA has reacted to the changed economic circumstances and agreed a major
cost recovery programme with staff and unions late last year. The restructuring
plan will generate €38 million in annual payroll savings and other
efficiencies. Under the agreement, about 300 staff have left the company
as part of a voluntary severance scheme and a further 100 contract positions
have not been renewed.
All staff earning more than €30,000 have taken a reduction in pay and pay
rates have been frozen until 2011. In recognition of the significant
contribution that employees have made to the cost recovery process, pay levels
may be fully restored if certain agreed future financial targets are met. The
DAA has also significantly reduced its non payroll costs over the past 12
months.
“We have taken prudent steps to reduce our costs and have agreed an
innovative package of cost saving measures with our employees,” Mr Collier said.
“DAA staff voted overwhelmingly in favour of pay reductions earlier this year
and we will see the benefits of our reduced cost base this year and into
2011.”
Mr Collier said the recent closure of Irish and European air space due to
volcanic ash had resulted in a significant reduction in turnover for the DAA, as
its Irish airports were effectively closed to traffic for six days. “About 3,200
flights were cancelled at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports as up to 400,000
incoming and outgoing passengers were affected. The disruption cost the
company up to €7-€8 million and in truth we are still counting the cost as the
ripple effect of cancellations and delayed travel is still working through the
system.”
The DAA has waived aircraft parking charges for its airline customers during
the week of the airspace closures and is also refunding the car parking charges
at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports for any customers who had an additional
unplanned stay due to the volcanic ash disruption.
The DAA’s annual results showed that earnings before interest, taxation,
depreciation and amortisation declined by 19% to €126 million last year. To help
fund the required investments in new infrastructure at Dublin Airport, gross
debt was €1.25 billion at year-end, with net debt at €616 million.
Although the impact of the Group’s cost recovery programme will not be felt
until this year, costs were reduced by 6% during 2009, as significant reductions
were achieved in both payroll costs and the cost of materials and services.
Taking into account a number of exceptional items, the Group recorded an
after tax loss of €13 million for the year, compared to a profit of €47 million
in 2008. The exceptional items included a €46.5 million charge in respect of the
cost recovery programme, which largely related to the voluntary severance
scheme.
Passenger volumes at Dublin Airport declined by 13% to 20.5 million last year, the
first annual fall in traffic at the airport since 1991. Passenger volumes at
Cork Airport declined by 15% to just under 2.8 million last year, as it also saw
its first decline in traffic since 1991.
Terminal traffic at Shannon Airport - which is the number of passengers who
either began or ended their journey at the airport - declined by 14% to 2.4
million during the year. Overall passenger volumes at Shannon declined by 12% to
2.8 million.
Aer Rianta International (ARI), which manages the Group’s overseas airport
investments and airport retailing business, had a challenging year as profits
before exceptional items declined by 47% to €13.4 million.
During the year, ARI was successful in its tender to operate the main duty
free outlet at Delhi International Airport’s new Terminal 3 facility, which has
been designed to handle up to 34 million passengers per year. ARI will run 4,000
sq metres of retail space with its local partner IDFS when Terminal 3 opens
later this year.
Back to Press Releases