Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1980 > Committee on Commercial State-Sponsored Bodies > Report No. 14 - Aer Lingus, Teoranta and Aerlínte Éireann, Teoranta

APPENDIX 8

LETTER TO CLERK TO JOINT COMMITTEE FROM AER RIANTA TEORANTA

I refer to the current examination by the Oireachtas Joint Committee into the affairs of Aer Lingus and wish to set out the views of Aer Rianta in this regard.

In general our relations with Aer Lingus are very good and there is a satisfactory level of co-operation between the two companies. We recognise the major contribution made over the years by Aer Lingus to the development of the air transport industry in Ireland and the particular importance of Aer Lingus as the major user of Irish airports.

As Aer Lingus is the carrier providing the largest proportion of air services at the three Irish airports it is important from our point of view that its operations should be spread as evenly as possible throughout the day. Any disruption of its operations can impose strain on the airports’ facilities. We would be concerned that Aer Lingus would have an aircraft fleet capable of coping with all the traffic demands and ensuring that delays and disruptions would be kept to the absolute minimum. We would therefore favour any action which would ensure that the capital structure of Aer Lingus was such that it would be able to maintain such an aircraft fleet.

We feel that the time might now be appropriate to examine the need for the development of feeder services between small airports in Ireland and those in Cork, Shannon and Dublin and we are prepared to join with Aer Lingus to examine the feasibility of this type of service.

Aer Lingus provides a variety of services for other airlines at Irish airports. Services, including the following, are provided by Aer Lingus as agents for Aer Rianta:

Passenger handling: including check-in procedures, guidance through controls to and from aircraft and assistance to passengers requiring special attention.

Baggage handling: including weighing, sorting, labelling, loading, unloading and delivery of passengers’ baggage.

Cargo handling: including acceptance, documentation sorting, loading and unloading, storage, bonding and customs presentation of air-cargo.

Aircraft handling: including marshalling, moving to and from parking areas, start-up procedures.

While the principal/agency relationship is accepted by Aer Lingus and we are fully satisfied with the standard of the services they provide, it has not been possible to reach agreement on the level of control which Aer Rianta should exercise over the charges made by Aer Lingus for these services. As a result Aer Rianta is not in a position to take any positive action on complaints by other carriers about what they feel to be excessive charges levelled by Aer Lingus. We also find ourselves in a difficult situation when, as has happened on a number of occasions, the news media carry articles complaining about the level of charges at Irish airports. The impression is invariably given that Aer Rianta is responsible for this high level of charge whereas in fact the complaints are often related to the charges for handling imposed by Aer Lingus. The Aer Rianta charges, landing and passenger load fees, are in line with charges applying generally at airports throughout Europe. It is our view that, if we are to accept responsibility for the level of airport charges at Irish airports, we should have a very high degree of control over the charges for handling services provided by Aer Lingus.

I trust that these views and comments will be of assistance to your Committee.

Yours faithfully,

J. B. King,

Acting Secretary

14 March 1980.