Sir, - I refer to the letter from Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ryanair (August 6th). There are a few questions I would like him to answer for Aer Rianta and the Tourism Industry.
Why is Ryanair charging higher fares for UK and European visitors travelling to Ireland than for Irish people travelling out of Ireland, as reported recently in the papers and on radio? Why is Ryanair pursuing such an aggressive strategy to prevent competition from other low-fare airlines operating in Ireland, such as GO and Virgin Express? Aer Rianta has provided the stimulus over the past two years for new route development and traffic growth by offering significant incentives to airlines to open new routes to the UK, Europe, United States or anywhere in the world. Ryanair is benefiting from this; for example at Shannon Airport it is operating free (no airport charges) on its Shannon-Hahn route. Ryanair also knows it can operate with zero airport charges for any further new routes it wishes to open out of Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports.
Aer Rianta actively promotes the development of new routes and the introduction of new airlines at Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports, as Mr O'Leary well knows. He has previously and continually declared that he has no intention of opening new routes out of Dublin Airport. However, as soon as another low-fares airline introduced services to Scotland, Ryanair changed its policy and is pursuing a campaign designed effectively to eliminate competition.
It is time that Ryanair lived by its own words and supported competition and even lower fares for Irish consumers. - Yours, etc.,
Noel Hanlon, Chairman, Aer Rianta, Dublin Airport.