Irish Aviation Authority profits rise 13% despite fuel price increases

Profits rose almost 13 per cent at the Irish Aviation Authority in 2005 as air transport activity continued to grow despite escalating fuel prices.

The authority, which manages Irish air space, said while there were concerns about the airline industry worldwide, strong growth was observable on the north Atlantic route, its key market.

British Airways, which has a significant transatlantic business, is now the authority's biggest commercial airline customer.

The authority's pretax profits rose from €14.3 million to €16.1 million, a 12.9 per cent jump. Turnover was up from €124 million to €127 million, a rise of 2.6 per cent.

The authority gets 78 per cent of its turnover from aircraft flying through Irish air space that do not land here.

Chief executive Eamonn Brennan said the weak US dollar had also helped, increasing the number of European passengers travelling to the US.

While Ryanair has the largest number of aircraft registered in the Republic at 104, its aircraft spend less time in Irish air space than other carriers. For example Aer Lingus has 34 aircraft, but seven off these fly to long-haul destinations in the US every day.

The authority's annual report shows there are now 341 large aircraft registered in the Republic, an increase of 44 in one year.

The number of small aircraft registered now stands at 536, up from 494 in the previous year.

While flights flying through Irish air space increased in 2005, the authority also benefited from increased landings at Cork, Shannon and Dublin.

The total number of aircraft movements at the three airports was up 6.9 per cent.

The authority had a net pension liability of €27.3 million and Mr Brennan said a plan was in place to deal with this issue, involving increased contributions by employees.

He said the plan would see the deficit disappear within six to eight years.

The total assets of the authority rose in 2005 to €158 million, from €141 million in 2004. The report says this resulted from a refinancing and a strong cash performance.

The annual report also shows that US military traffic, which regularly crosses Irish air space, contributed €1.8 million towards turnover during 2005. This was down from €3.6 million the year before. The official ending of war in Iraq reduced the number of military aircraft crossing Irish air space.