Aer Lingus chief lashes the DAA over airport facilities
IF new DAA ceo Dalton Philips is curious about the reception that awaits him when he takes up his role next month he should grab a copy of the latest UCD Connections alumni magazine, which contains an frank interview with Aer Lingus ceo Stephen Kavanagh. In it Kavanagh details the conflict between the two companies, first revealed in these pages some months ago.
Kavanagh hits out at DAA’s plans to build a new runway without first improving existing infrastructure: “A runway is of no use if you can’t reach it.”
When Terminal 2 was built certain investment cases weren’t made, he said: “Terminal 2 is now full, the airport is now incredibly congested and constrained, so there are investment cases that now make sense and need to be made.”
He also sounds extremely displeased about the service Aer Lingus gets from DAA in terms of gate positioning for connecting flights as it attempts to turn Dublin into a gateway hub. “If we had sufficient access as an anchor tenant to the resources in T2 — not exclusively but with priority to reflect our home base — that we would be capable of executing our strategy.”
Aer Lingus, he says, gets pushed aside to make room for new American and Middle Eastern carriers: “We’re already paying the same as everybody else, but we’re not getting the same treatment as everybody else”.
Over to you Mr Philips.