Dublin Airport’s Kenny Jacobs gave a lively briefing to a sold-out Fingal chamber business briefing at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Dublin Airport.
Entitled Shaping Ireland’s Future, Jacobs was bombarded with questions over an hour, tackling issues such as flight paths, sustainability and noise.
During the discourse he described his relationship with former employer Michael O’Leary as fiery. He said Ryanair are going to be the largest airline in the world in three years’ time and that is something that should be applauded. “Ryanair know a lot about how to run an airline but they do not understand airports.”
Mr Jacobs said plans are in place to expand Cork Airport’s European route network as part of shoulder season planning, aiming for a 40pc growth to reach 5m passengers annually.
DAA Labs is developing the Dublin Airport app and website as part of customer service enhancements and improvements.
The initiatives signal a focus on enhancing customer experience and increasing connectivity in the region, with progress being made on both Cork and Dublin airports’ services and infrastructure.
Amongst the airport objectives Mr Jacobs outlined were maintaining stable operations & improving the service for passengers and airlines, promoting sustainability in aviation, growing at Dublin, making Cork a 5m airport, managing a portfolio of long-term airport contracts abroad, growing the duty-free portfolio, managing debt, driving efficiency and non-aero revenue.
In conclusion, Mr Jacobs said that “daa is much more than Dublin Airport, Dublin Airport is a key economic driver of the national economy (€9.6bn in gross value added to the Irish economy, population growth alone means Dublin Airport will need to be 37m in the next 10 years, airport growth and improved sustainability can happen together and we will continue to work harder to
