- Construction of third runway will commence towards the end of this year
- Runway will cost €320m
- €900m on new piers and aircraft stands
- Airport wil handle 40m passengers
DAA CEO Dalton Philips
Daa Chief Executive, Dalton Philips said DAA hopes to award the North Runway contract next month and will commence building of that third runway towards the end of this year. DAA intends spending €500m on new piers and aircraft stands at the southern side of Dublin Airport and €400m on doing the same at the northern end by 2022 or 2023 on an expansion that will allow it to handle up to 40m passengers a year, in addition to the estimated €320m on the north runway.
The €900m will increase the number of aircraft stands from 112 to 147 giving it the space to handle up to 40m passengers annually. With adjustments, Dublin’s two terminals can handle more than 40m people a year.
He sees the Minister’s concept of an independently-run T3 as “never been done anywhere else in the world” and thinks “to trial something when you’re so utterly dependent on one airport as the gateway to the country and the driver of the economic engine brings huge risks.”
The route to the new northern gates would run behind existing hangars to an unused area that can be seen from the airport’s exit road. A second block of boarding gates, accessed by bus, will sit across an aircraft parking area from this. On the southern side, a new pier with gates will extend down into an existing cargo area that will be moved to a new zone of its own. [No illustration provided]!
He pledged that daa would do this without increasing passenger charges, the fees it levies on airlines to help pay for Dublin Airport’s facilities, arguing it is necessary to stave off competition from rival gateways in Britain and Europe. “We are constrained and we rapidly need this infrastructure and we need it now.”
