In a statement published on Corportate.Ryanair.com, Ryanair has said that it has rejected Dublin Airport operator DAA's application for an 88% price increase on its airport charges at Dublin when DAA is "mismanaging the COVID-19 recovery", and thousands of airport passengers are getting stuck in long security queues outside the terminal buildings.
Statement By Ryanair's Eddie Wilson
The statement published on Corporate.Ryanair.com included a statement from Ryanair's Eddie Wilson that said, "At a time when Irish air travel and tourism are struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, this application by the DAA for an 88% price increase is unjustified and unwarranted. Dublin Airport has the facilities to grow traffic using the new second runway, but this growth can only be delivered with lower airport charges and lower airfares, not unnecessary gold-plated facilities such as 'tunnels under runways'. The DAA should instead concentrate on fixing recruitment to deliver an efficient customer service through security rather than dreaming up new charges for facilities that nobody wants and which damage tourism recovery.
"The DAA have mismanaged the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and are now seeking to jeopardise the future growth and development of Irish tourism with this price gouging application for an 88% increase in airport charges, which it seeks to justify by proposing ludicrous spending on unnecessary 'tunnels under runways' which Dublin's airlines and Dublin's passengers don't need, and can't pay for.
"We call on the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, to protect Irish aviation, Irish tourism and the DAA itself from a traffic collapse and issue a shareholder direction to the DAA to abandon any application for cost increases at Dublin Airport."
Ryanair Welcomes Paris Court Ruling Against Lastminute
In other Ryanair news, the above news followed news that Ryanair has welcomed the Paris Court of Appeal ruling against Lastminute, which operates the Lastminute.fr website, confirming the Order of the Court of First Instance ordering the immediate cessation of Lastminute's selling of Ryanair flights in France subject to a daily fine of €1,000, according to a separate statement published on Corporate.Ryanair.com, which also said that the court also confirmed that Lastminute pay Ryanair €50,000 for free riding without Ryanair's consent on Ryanair’s website, and ordered that Lastminute pay €10,000 for Ryanair's legal costs, in addition to €10,000 for Ryanair's costs in first instance.
The statement about this news published on Corportate. Ryanair.com included a statement by Ryanair's Dara Brady that said, "We welcome this Paris Court ruling upholding Ryanair's right to determine its own distribution model which is guaranteed under the constitutional freedom of trade and industry in France. Ryanair's direct to customers distribution model provides our customers with the best choice, care, and lowest fares while allowing us to ensure that flight safety, security, and public health protocols are complied with. We again urge consumers to book directly on the Ryanair website, the only place to find the lowest Ryanair fares. We will continue our campaign against screenscrapers, many of whose business models depend on mis-selling Ryanair fares at inflated prices (or with hidden mark ups) to unsuspecting consumers."
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