Ryanair threatens to leave Dublin

Ryanair will withdraw from Dublin Airport by Christmas if the company cannot operate there more cheaply, chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary said yesterday, after the company's annual general meeting.

Mr O'Leary said Dublin Airport's landing charges were the most expensive of the 25 airports used by the low-cost, no-frills airline.

Through discussions with the Government and Aer Rianta, the airline was seeking its own low-cost base in Dublin by operating its own terminal, adapting a new extension planned for Pier D in the airport, or developing a base at Baldonnel, Mr O'Leary said.

Meetings have been held with the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, on Ryanair's proposal to build its own terminal for £20 million. "The quid pro quo is that we promise to open new low-fare routes to Europe," he said.

An Aer Rianta spokesman said yesterday that the company was dismissive of the comments.

Last week, the Financial Times reported Mr O'Leary saying that Ryanair would cease to expand its services at Stansted Airport if the British Airports Authority increased landing charges to compensate for loss of earnings from duty free sales when they are abolished for intra-EU travel at the end of 1999.

Yesterday, Mr O'Leary said that Ryanair's difficulty in Dublin was that the rebate system, whereby Aer Rianta foregoes landing fees if airlines reach agreed growth levels, would end as a result of the reduction in duty free sales next year.

"Our total payments amounted to about £8 million this year. If those rebates go, those will rise to about £15 million every year," he said.

He warned that the airline's development was in European traffic, which could also be managed from Britain. The airline was "indifferent" if no deal was struck in Dublin.

"If it is not done by Christmas, we will be gone . . . The Government has to make up its mind what it wants to do," he said.

All of the air traffic growth in Dublin Airport had resulted from routes which Ryanair had entered and which competitors had followed. Brussels was the fastest growing in-bound tourism market for Bord Failte, followed by Paris, he added.

Ryanair made a pre-tax profit of £39.8 million on turnover of £182.6 million for the year to March 31st, 1998. Its first-quarter pre-tax profit for the current financial year rose from £7.7 million to £9.2 million.