Fingal County Council has approved Aer Rianta's plans for a substantially revised version of Pier D at Dublin Airport, designed to cater for low-cost carriers, at least in the short term.
But the council's decision, subject to 21 conditions, is expected to be appealed to An Bord Pleanála by Ryanair and by UPROAR, a coalition of Portmarnock residents' groups opposed to further expansion of the airport.
Pier D was designed by international architects Skidmore Owings and Merrill to provide 12 new stands for "quick turnaround" aircraft. Known as "contact stands", they do not require passengers to use buses or airbridges.
Planned for construction in an area known as the north apron, the new pier would be linked to the main terminal building by a semi-circular elevated glazed walkway wrapping around the forecourt of the airport's original terminal. This walkway would contain segregated corridors for departing and arriving passengers. The two-storey pier would also be segregated, with departures in the upper level and arrivals below, in line with immigration requirements.
The cost of the new pier is put at €50 million while the elevated walkway, suspended from stainless steel pylons, would cost an additional €20 million.
It has also been designed so that airbridges can be added later as required.
Pier D is needed to cater for Dublin Airport's very high growth in passenger numbers and aircraft movements as well as to comply with the Government's directive to Aer Rianta to provide additional contact stands for low-cost carriers.
An earlier plan for Pier D, conceived in 1997, pre-dated heightened immigration and security concerns. Its single-storey design, with no separation of incoming and outgoing passengers, was condemned by the National Aviation Security Council.
According to Aer Rianta, whose in-house architects designed it, the earlier version of Pier D was "tailored to a moment in time and wouldn't have lasted 10 years", whereas the latest scheme would fit in with an emerging master plan for the airport.
But the plan has been characterised as "crazy" by Mr Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive, who has said it would damage seriously the prospect of building a second main terminal at Dublin Airport, operated independently of Aer Rianta.
Mr O'Leary has vowed to fight the proposal, taking his case to the High Court if necessary. He claims that the project is too expensive and would provide a net gain of only nine contact stands for aircraft as three current stands would be lost.
But Aer Rianta believes Mr O'Leary's view is based on "short-term expediency" and says it is obliged to take a longer-term perspective. For example, Pier D has been designed with built-in flexibility to cater for much larger aircraft in the future.
Mr Roger Kallman, managing partner of Skidmore Owings and Merrill's London office, pointed out that Dublin was "still a premier airport" and it would be "totally unacceptable" for Aer Rianta to provide sub-standard facilities merely to cater for low-cost carriers.