Ryanair has expressed its fury today after Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey announced that the Dublin Airport Authority is to operate the new Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport.
The Transport Minister confirmed he had scrapped plans for a procurement process, saying none of the rival candidates met the minimum requirements.
Ryanair hot out at the department for mandating the DAA monopoly to operate the terminal without "even a fig leaf" of competition.
"Today’s decision to award the DAA monopoly the contract to operate T2 comes as no surprise from a Minister and Department which last November ordered the independent Aviation Regulator to rubber-stamp a 40% cost increase to enable the DAA to pay for this white elephant," said Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary.
"The fact that T2 is two years late, and has now cost six times more than its original €200m budget, means that the DAA is now effectively bankrupt, the airport is empty, routes and flights are being closed on a weekly basis, as airlines including BA, Malev, British Midland, Aer Lingus and Ryanair have all announced closures, reductions or withdrawals from Dublin Airport altogether.
"Noel Dempsey has decided to do away with this fig leaf of competition and simply award the contract for T2 to the DAA monopoly.
"What else could we expect from a Minister who wasted €50m on electronic voting machines and goes “missing in Malta” during our last transport crisis?"
The DAA has disputed O'Leary's claims, noting that it has three months to confirm that it can meet the cost parameters specified by the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR).
The company says that it is "already an efficient airport operator, as confirmed by a number of independent studies carried out on behalf of CAR in recent years".
"CAR’s most recent research found that in 2008, total operating costs per passenger at Dublin Airport were the second lowest in a study of 12 comparable European airports and were 20-25% lower than the average operating cost," said a DAA statement.
DAA chief executive Declan Collier said: "The DAA has been set a significant challenge by this decision, as the benchmark costs envisaged by CAR will require a different cost model than that which currently pertains in the existing terminal.
"We will now work to try and meet the criteria stipulated by the Minister and are committed to responding to him within the three-month period."