DAA drops challenge to regulator’s ruling on charges

The Dublin Airport Authority is not proceeding with a legal challenge after receiving "satisfactory" guidance concerning the aviation regulator's treatment, for airport charging purposes, of the authority's investment in the Dublin Airport City project.

DAA plc complained the regulator's final determination last October – setting the maximum level of airport charges for 2015-2019 – would adversely impact its plans for the project's development. It had initiated judicial review proceedings against the Commissioner for Aviation Regulation over the treatment of its investment in the project.

When the case came before Mr Justice Brian McGovern in the Commercial Court, he was told by Paul Sreenan SC, for the DAA, it was not proceedings because a guidance note received from the regulator had provided satisfactory clarification for his client.

The Dublin Airport City project, first mooted in 2008, involves the development of lands in the central and eastern areas of the Dublin Airport campus. Since 2008, the DAA claimed there was an understanding between it, the regulator and other airport users that, should the project proceed, it would be on a commercial basis not subject to the regulatory price control regime.