Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe TD, has today (Friday) decided not to establish an appeal panel to review the latest regulatory determination made by the Commissioner for Aviation Regulation specifying the maximum levels of airport charges that may be levied by daa in respect of Dublin Airport. This follows a joint notification to the Minister from Aer Lingus, daa and Ryanair that they wished to withdraw their previous requests to the Minister to establish such an Appeal Panel.
On 12 December 2014 the Minister Donohoe issued a notice drawing the attention of interested parties to their right to appeal the Commission for Aviation Regulation’s 2014 determination specifying the maximum levels of airport charges that may be levied by daa in respect of Dublin Airport.
The Minister received three requests, from daa, Aer Lingus and Ryanair, seeking the establishment of an Appeal Panel to review the Commission’s 2014 determination.
The three appellants have since written to the Minister withdrawing their requests for the establishment of an Appeal Panel. While continuing to express their dissatisfaction with the 2014 determination for various separate reasons, the appellants pointed to the fact that regulation of airport charges will be the subject of a detailed review in 2015 as one of the reasons for withdrawing their requests. In view of this development, the Department will not proceed with the establishment of an Appeal Panel.
The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has initiated a regulatory review of airport charges in Ireland with the publication of a request for tenders on 12 January 2015. The review will be conducted by independent, external consultants who will be asked to advise the Department on the future system for regulation of airport charges in Ireland, taking account of the operation of the current system, developments in the global aviation industry, developments in the Irish aviation sector, EU aviation policy and regulation and international practice in the field of airport charges regulation. The review by the consultants will be completed before the end of 2015.
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