Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 18 January 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

National Aviation Policy: Dublin Airport Authority

Mr. Vincent Harrison:

In terms of the configuration of the airports, we have runways north and south now and we have a runway through the middle, which is referred to as crosswind runway. That runway has, and will have, parallel taxiways beside it. Vehicular access across two taxiways and a runway has essentially been ruled out as optional for safety reasons.

There is a whole variety of efficiency requirements in terms of access to the western part of our campus that the underpass will give us and we will be applying for planning permission. What we are talking about now is a project that has been approved for future remuneration, as opposed to one that is currently under construction.

Even coming back to the Deputy's question about infrastructure and availability, there are 23 parking stands on the western apron. Having those easily accessible, not just by cargo aircraft but by a range of other standby aircraft or aircraft that one might move to free up space, is critical for providing the resilience at the airport. This project is enabling access to those areas in a much more convenient way for processing of activities that will feed into longer-term growth projects. This is a 50-year asset. Therefore, when it comes back in terms of the actual impact on remuneration, it is quite small. It is quite a high-profile project, however. We have 159 capital projects that we presented through a regulatory process in consultation with our airlines. At the end of the process, 158 of those were allowed and brought forward. That is an indication of the degree of general endorsement there was for the programme across a whole wide range of stakeholders and regulators. Clearly, this is one that has been picked out for comment.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.