THE DUBLIN Airport Authority (DAA) is considering charging passengers directly for using Shannon airport, in a bid to raise extra revenue for the Co Clare facility.
Under the proposal, travellers would no longer pay a passenger charge to airlines as part of their ticket price.
Instead, they would pay the airport manager directly, either in the terminal building before they board their plane or online.
The charge would be levied against departing passengers.
It is not clear how much the DAA would charge but the existing full passenger fee at Shannon is €15 per return journey.
A spokesman for the authority declined to comment on the plan.
But is it understood to be one of a number of proposals being considered by the DAA board to generate revenue at Shannon, which has seen its passenger traffic decline by about 900,000 over the past three years.
This move would have the effect of making airline ticket prices cheaper, and could appease Ryanair, a vocal critic of passenger charges and the effect they have on its own fare prices and demand.
But passengers would still be forced to pay the fee, which is separate from the €10 air travel tax introduced by the Government in March 2009 to raise additional revenue for the Exchequer.
Currently, some airlines benefit from a discount on air passenger charges via route-incentive schemes operated by the Shannon Airport Authority, an arm of the DAA.
These schemes mean that passengers do not pay the full €7.50 each-way charge currently levied on people using Shannon.
By charging travellers directly, the DAA would effectively be eliminating these discounts and boosting Shannon’s revenues.
Ryanair’s five-year sweetheart deal – which involved a passenger charge of just €1 or €2 per person – at Shannon comes to an end in April.
The two sides have failed to agree a new deal, and Ryanair has slashed its capacity at the airport.
In January, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said the airline’s traffic at Shannon would decline to 400,000 this year from a peak of 1.9 million.
One informed source said that the move would make pricing “more transparent” for passengers and would represent a “reasonable charge” for services provided at the airport.
If approved by the DAA, the charge would not be in place for the busy summer season this year.
The move would mean that only passengers who actually fly from Shannon would pay the charge.
Many airlines, including Ryanair, do not refund passenger charges or taxes if a person fails to show for their flight.
But the move could meet with stiff resistance in the west of Ireland if it results in passengers having to pay more to fly.