Ryanair passenger numbers fall in Dublin

Traffic on low-fare airline Ryanair's routes in and out of Dublin Airport declined by 20,391 passengers, or 1 per cent, in the eight months from January to August on the corresponding period last year, the company confirmed yesterday. A Ryanair spokeswoman said the figures reflected an overall decline in the numbers of people flying to and from Britain. This fell by 1 per cent in August this year when compared with August 1998.

According to Aer Rianta, Ryanair carried 1,863,000 passengers in the first eight months of the year, down from 1,884,000 in the same period in 1998.

Accepting this, the company said most of its growth in the past year came from the addition of new routes from Britain. In its annual report, the airline said overall passenger numbers would increase this year to 4.93 million from 3.99 million in 1998, with seat occupancy rising by one percentage point to 73 per cent in the same period.

Repeating his call on the Government to allow the company build a "low-cost" terminal in public-private partnership with Aer Rianta, chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary said: "In the current environment, where UK passenger numbers into Ireland are stagnating, it is vital that the Government deliver the fresh impetus that this proposal will give to Ireland's tourism industry."

A spokesman for the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, said the proposal was with the Minister. He said he could not comment on the likelihood of the Government accepting the proposal.

Ms O'Rourke has said publicly that she is reluctant to allow private companies access to a State-built infrastructure. It is understood the Government could not allow any private airline or company to build a terminal on State lands without putting such a contract out to tender.

While stating that a decision on a new terminal was one for the Minister, Aer Rianta again rejected the idea.

"This call from Ryanair is a further distraction from its difficulties on its routes out of Dublin where it is the only carrier that is losing passenger numbers," said a spokesman.

Speaking at yesterday's brief annual general meeting, Mr O'Leary said the company wanted to establish 10 new routes to Europe, which would potentially bring an additional one million passengers into the airport.

Mr O'Leary said the company was willing to invest £12 million in a new terminal and hand back the facility to Aer Rianta in return for long-term, low-cost landing fees of £1 per passenger at Dublin Airport.

If the company failed to bring in one million extra passengers within two years, Ryanair would be happy to pay landing fees of £8 per passenger, Mr O'Leary said.

The company was continuing to focus on growth out of Britain and between European cities. "The key is that the cost base agreed in most of these cases was £1 per passenger or less."

Mr O'Leary said Ryanair was not interested in proposals to develop a commercial airport at Casement Aerodrome at Baldonnell, Co Dublin. "Baldonnell infrastructurally is of no interest for us. If anything it is a distraction. What is missing at Dublin Airport is terminal space," he said.