Aer Rianta's decision to raise airport charges will force airlines to reconsider their schedules, will lead to higher fares and damage tourism in the Republic, it was claimed yesterday.

The State's main airlines said the increases would inevitably be passed to customers and higher access costs would have a significant negative effect on tourism.

While declining to specify what services might be reviewed, the federation said the recent increases were "yet another step in the wrong direction".

The claim was made by the Operator's Group of the Federation of Aerospace Enterprises in Ireland which includes Ryanair, Aer Lingus, CityJet, Aer Arann and a group that represents those involved in air freight.

The federation yesterday made a presentation to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport.

In it the group also lent support to plans by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, for breaking up Aer Rianta. The group's spokesman, Aer Lingus chief executive Mr Willie Walsh, said it was not "anti Aer Rianta", but did favour competition between the airports.

"The federation is unanimous in its support of the Government's decision to establish three fully independent and autonomous airport authorities for Dublin, Cork and Shannon," said Mr Walsh.

"We believe this decision will have a positive effect on growth and development." He said if the three airports operated independently, the recent rise in charges might not have happened.

"I don't think the recent 160 per cent rise in the passenger service charge at Cork would have happened under an independent management. It would not have been in their interest," he said.

He said the break up would have major benefits for Shannon and Cork. "The local management would have a vested interest in making it work," he said.

The group said it favoured a competing terminal at Dublin Airport, a move bitterly resisted by the unions.

"We believe that competing terminals will lead to lower costs, better services and cheaper airfares and ultimately more direct and indirect jobs. Credible proposals for competing terminals have been identified and should be considered," said the group's presentation.

The group also questioned Aer Rianta's plans to build a new runway at Dublin Airport. "Before money is spent on new infrastructure we must be satisfied that the existing infrastructure is being efficiently used. Capacity on the existing main runway at Dublin can be increased."

After the meeting, Mr Walsh said that when airports were offering incentives for airlines and "rebating" charges, the opposite was happening in Ireland.