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Ryanair’s O’Leary has not met DAA head since 2007
21 February 2010 By Richard Curran
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has not had a one-to-one meeting with the head of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) for nearly two-and-a-half years.
O’Leary told The Sunday Business Post that, despite being the airport’s biggest customer, he had not met DAA chief executive Declan Collier since September 2007, apart from a presentation he attended with three other airline chief executives in recent weeks.
O’Leary said neither of them had sought meetings with the other during the period, and neither had refused to attend. The DAA said there had been regular direct correspondence between the two since the last meeting, which continued. It added that Collier was always available to meet O’Leary and had never refused to meet him.
The relationship between the airline and the DAA hit another flashpoint last week as the row between Ryanair and the government continued over the airline’s proposal last year to locate 500 aircraft maintenance jobs at Dublin Airport.
Letters exchanged between O’Leary and Tánaiste Mary Coughlan’s office show that, as far back as February 2009, Ryanair wanted to locate 500 jobs at Hangar 6 if it could buy the lease on the hangar at the same price the DAA had paid for it.
The correspondence shows that, after referring O’Leary’s proposal to IDA Ireland and subsequent deliberations, the Tánaiste said that it would not be possible for Ryanair to agree a commercial arrangement on the hangar without discussing it directly with the DAA.
O’Leary has said that he would have paid more than the DAA for the leases to the hangars - including Hangar 6 - vacated by SR Technics last year.
The DAA bought the leases back from SR Technics for a reported €20 million. However, O’Leary said last week that €20 million for six hangars ‘‘sounds very cheap’’.
‘‘You wouldn’t build Hangar 6 for €20 million," he said.
‘‘The DAA bought it back cheaply. I would have paid more."
Meanwhile, it emerged last week that the rent for Hangar 6 was €200,000 a year. In a letter to IDA Ireland last year, Ryanair said it had learned that the rent paid by SR Technics to the DAA was €200,000 a year, and the airline would be willing to pay this rent.
However, reports have suggested that Aer Lingus is paying €2.25 million a year for the rent of Hangar 6 - more than ten times the previous rent. The DAA declined to comment on any of the figures, citing commercial confidentiality.
O’Leary said that, by going public with the row over the jobs last weekend, he only intended to cause embarrassment to the government over its failure to do a deal last year.
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