BUDGET airline boss, Michael O’Leary, has taken a second sideswipe at the management of Shannon airport, accusing them of “trying to suppress their mismanagement”.
The Ryanair chief executive has written to a local authority, claiming that traffic at the airport has dropped by 61 per cent between 2007 and 2011 with Ryanair business growing by 48 per cent during the same period.
He wrote this letter after the council took him to task for his approach in an earlier letter to them.
Mr Ryan was told: “Shannon is focussed on building a sustainable traffic base and is happy to work with all airlines including Ryanair to do that. But it has to be on a basis that makes financial sense for both the airport and the airline”.
In his latest letter to Clare County Council, Mr O’Leary accused the airport management of “trying to suppress their mismanagement of their continuing traffic declines from the local people”.
He urged the council to ask Shannon airport board “to explain why they increased Shannon’s passenger charges by 33 per cent in November 2010 when it’s traffic had collapsed from 2.8 million in 2009 to 1.8 million in 2010.
He also pointed out that the airport had rejected Ryanair’s predictions for their traffic numbers in 2011.
“Why don’t you ask them what their traffic forecast actually is, given that Shannon Airport no longer publishes monthly traffic figures….”
Previously, the airline boss wrote to Clare County Council on foot of a motion which was passed at council which he described as “inaccurate and absurd”, calling on Ryanair to deliver on its promise to increase passenger traffic at the airport following the abolition of the €10 travel tax.
In response to that letter, a spokesperson for Shannon said: “Ryanair’s letter to local councillors is self-serving and has no basis in fact.
“It is both bizarre and ironic considering that Ryanair, in accusing the airport of overpricing, has itself recently introduced a compulsory €2 each-way ‘improbability charge’ for all passengers”.
The spokesperson further claimed that Ryanair’s so-called ‘estimate’ for traffic at Shannon is false and bears no relation to the true expected position at the airport for 2011.
“Passenger charges at Shannon increased by €1.58 per passenger in late 2010. This was first adjustment in six years, as prices had been frozen since 2004. During that same six-year period, Ryanair’s charges increased by up to 1,100% in some cases”.
According to the spokesperson, “Ryanair’s new ‘improbability charge’ increase is 27 per cent greater than last year’s passenger charge adjustment at Shannon.
“Shannon’s charges are now in line with those at other regional airports such as Cork, Ireland West Knock, Aberdeen, Southampton, Porto, Gothenburg and Malmo.
“The false claim (re mismanagement) is a self-serving Ryanair untruth”.
Concerning the latest letter, the spokesperson declined to comment on the basis that it had already made its position clear in relation to a previous communication to Clare County Council from Mr O’Leary.
