Sir, - I refer to the letter published on Saturday (June 6th) form Ryanair's Michael O'Leary in which he ignores a few pertinent facts, not for the first time.
Mr O'Leary knows that Aer Rianta's airport charges are amongst the lowest in Europe - 47th lowest out of a recent league table of 50. He also knows that Aer Rianta's traffic incentive scheme is "the best available anywhere", to quote an independent study. Ryanair have been major beneficiaries of this scheme to the extent that they carried twice as many passengers in 1997 as they did in 1994, but still paid Aer Rianta less in airport charges last year than in 1994. Their own accounts show that Aer Rianta's airport charges to them represented just over three per cent of their total costs and that they paid over 50 per cent per passenger more in charges to other airports.
In 1997, Aer Rianta charged Ryanair just £1.93 per passenger - this seems a very good deal when compared with the £3 per credit card booking or the £1 per cheque transaction that Ryanair themselves charge passengers.
Mr O'Leary suggests that a second terminal run by Ryanair would mean even lower airport charges at Dublin Airport, but a glance at his duty-free prices would not encourage many people to believe him. Ryanair's duty-free prices for the same products are significantly higher than those charged by Aer Rianta, the so-called big bad monopoly that Mr O'Leary seems obsessed with.
So much for competition Ryanair style! - Yours, etc., Flan Clune, Aer Rianta GM Press & PR,
Dublin Airport, Co Dublin.