DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs is in talks that could lead to him leaving the State airports operator after less than three years. At issue is a rift with the DAA board that has led to open speculation about his future.
But who is Jacobs? And how did he come to be in the departure lounge so soon into a seven-year contract?
Jacobs arrived at DAA in January 2023 from Ryanair, where he spent more than six years as chief marketing officer. He also previously worked for Procter & Gamble, Accenture, Metro Group GmbH, Moneysupermarket and Tesco.
But it was the Ryanair role that stood out. The airline’s relations with DAA would hardly be described as harmonious, so his appointment led to surprise in Dublin Airport.
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After all, Ryanair’s pugnacious chief Michael O’Leary has often branded DAA and its political masters as hopeless incompetents. Jacobs was responsible for Ryanair digital operations, customer service, marketing and communications. The airline was never known for a softly-softly approach.
The DAA controls vital national infrastructure, crucial for the connectivity of Ireland’s trade-dependent island economy. It is also highly politicised.
Jacobs told the Sunday Independent in May how he brought a “take-no-s**t” attitude to DAA from Ryanair. “Yeah, we’re sticking our elbows out – and I’m comfortable with us having an uneasy relationship – because of our ambition and because we are really, really performing quite well.”
That Jacobs’s “elbows-out” approach rankled with some within DAA is now clear. In aviation circles, he was known for a certain brashness. “There’s an irreverence, but I think he takes pride in the irreverence,” one person familiar with his work said. “He’s also a bit self-consumed.”
The submission of two protected disclosures about Jacobs was seen as a sign of discord within DAA. But neither complaint was upheld after investigations commissioned by the DAA board from Mark Connaughton SC.
Asked direct questions about how Jacobs dealt with the fallout from the complaints, DAA said it was constrained by law from comment. “All concerns raised under DAA’s protected disclosure policy are reviewed, and we confirm that no complaints have been upheld,” it said.
The troubles did not end there. After breaching the 32 million annual passenger cap at Dublin Airport last year, DAA has struggled to advance successive Fingal County Council planning applications to raise the cap to 40 million and 36 million passengers. Fingal council has blamed DAA for delays, but DAA insists it is not to blame and said many matters were beyond its control.
Still, Fingal council chief executive AnnMarie Farrelly is known to have raised concerns about DAA planning issues with the Department of Transport.
“The chief executive would have expressed those frustrations to the department and would also have advocated for a joint stakeholder approach to the development of the airport,” a local authority source said. The spokeswoman for Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien said he had no comment.
O’Brien stayed largely silent on Jacobs as the board rift spilt into the open last week. But O’Brien acknowledged on Monday that talks were ongoing and that he would have to sign off on any financial package if Jacobs were to leave his post. “We are not there yet,” the Minister said.
That O’Brien has signalled political moves to scrap the 32 million cap is a sign of Government concern about the situation in DAA. That it was open to him to intervene earlier is another matter.
