Ryanair pledges to create 1,000 jobs - outside Ireland
Ryanair has today confirmed that it will create more than 1,000 new jobs in 2012, none of which will be based in Ireland.
The airline will be recruiting pilots, cabin crew, engineers and sales/marketing people, as its fleet grows from 270 to 305 aircraft.
Ryanair warned that it will continue to reduce flights, traffic and job numbers in Ireland while the travel tax remains in place and current levels of charges are maintained at Government-owned airports.
"While Ryanair has grown rapidly to become the No.1 airline in Spain, Italy, the UK and many other EU countries, we continue to reduce flights, traffic and job numbers here in Ireland, where the DAA monopoly airports are totally uncompetitive," said Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara.
"Sadly the new Irish Government continues to follow the failed policy of its predecessor by supporting the DAA monopoly’s high and rising airport fees, and the crazy tourist tax which has seen traffic at the three Government-owned DAA airports decline from 30 million passengers in 2007, to just 22 million in 2011.
"Ryanair believes that Ireland can return to strong traffic, tourism and jobs growth, but only when the new Government delivers on its promise to scrap the tourist tax, reduce the DAA’s high airport charges to competitive levels, to put Ireland back in the market as a low cost tourist destination, and end the failed policy of protecting the high cost, traffic declining DAA airport monopoly."
The Dublin Airport Authority refuted Ryanair’s claims today however, stating that charges at DAA airports highly competitive compared with their peers
“Dublin Airport’s proposed passenger charge for 2012, for example, is 17% lower than the average €12.50 passenger charge levied in 2009 - the most recent year for which figures are available - by comparable European airports such as Stansted, Gatwick, Brussels, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Zurich, Vienna, Munich, and Oslo,” said a DAA spokesman.
“A range of independent studies of European airport charges have also consistently confirmed that Dublin Airport’s charges are low (such as) ‘The lowest passenger charges can be found at Dublin, Cologne, and at airports in Spain, as they were in 2009’ (RDC European Airport Charges Monitor, 2010) and ‘Dublin’s charges are “towards the lower end of the spectrum when compared with European airports’ (Jacobs Consultancy, 2010).”
The DAA also pointed out that traffic at its three Irish airports has grown by 27% since 2000, “despite the three years of decline between 2008 and 2010, due to the economic slowdown”.
The latest figures for passenger traffic will be released later today.
