DAA predicts passenger drop

AIRPORT TRAFFIC:IT MAY BE building Terminal 2, but Dublin Airport Authority is predicting a drop in passenger numbers next year.

At a lunch organised by TravelMedia.ie this week, Vincent Wall, DAA's director of communications, told key representatives of the tourism industry that passenger numbers had risen by 4 per cent in August but that the outlook for 2009 was gloomy.

Anyone who has struggled through the airport in recent times may see this as good news. And if passenger numbers are due to fall, then why the need for a new terminal?

Wall said that incoming and outgoing flights concentrate in tight periods of time, just like rush-hour traffic. For travellers to move conveniently through the airport, the aircraft transporting them need space (and a lot of it at that: Terminal 2 will be 450m from the airport doors, farther even than the infamous Pier D).

Also at the lunch was Dave Walsh of BMI Ireland, who had a bone to pick about consumers' perception of what makes a good fare deal. Sure, he said, some airlines might fly you to London for little more than the taxes and charges. But, he suggested, you have to compare the cost and time of travelling from Stansted, say, on a bus and then a train with flying to Heathrow with BMI - or, we should point out, Aer Lingus - then paying £4 (€5) for the Tube or £16.50 (€21) for the Heathrow Express train into the city. You'd expect him to plug BMI, but perhaps he's right that it's a better deal.