Plans for Terminal 2 operator scrapped

MINISTER FOR Transport Noel Dempsey has scrapped plans to seek an operator for Terminal 2 (T2) at Dublin airport and decided instead to tender for a facilities management company to handle cleaning, maintenance and security screening at the facility, which will open in 2010.

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), which owns T2 and is building the facility, will be allowed bid for the contract, which is likely to run for five years.

The DAA recently agreed a deal with its trade unions at Dublin airport that will allow for greater flexibility in work practices and different wage rates for staff at T2.

Mr Dempsey’s decision followed advice from a team of consultants comprising Goodbody Corporate Finance, Matheson Ormsby Prentice and Mott MacDonald.

“The scope of the tender has been decided taking into account the conclusions reached by the consultants regarding the provision of services in the terminal as efficiently as possible while preserving the integrated operation of the airport,” Mr Dempsey said.

The DAA will be required to “prepare and submit” a “benchmark price” to the consultants on how much it believes it would cost to manage the facility. Bids will then be sought from third parties, after which the consultants will “compare them” to the DAA “benchmark”.

In 2005, the Government mandated the DAA to design and build T2, which is costing €609 million, but deferred a decision on who would operate the building.

Ryanair’s deputy chief executive Howard Millar described the Minister’s move as a “total farce”. “This isn’t a separately-managed terminal,” he told The Irish Times. “I don’t think that outsourcing the cleaning is a major innovation in 2009.”

DAA said it would “engage” with the consultants to “help progress the tender process”.