Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 537: To ask the Minister for Transport the average subsidy per passenger in 2008 on all Irish air routes subject to a subsidised public service obligation in view of An Board Snip Nua recommendations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30458/09]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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Under EU Council Regulation 2408/92, my Department provides compensation to contracted regional air carriers for the operation of air services under the Public Service Obligation (PSO) regime between Dublin and Galway, Kerry, Knock, Sligo, Donegal and City of Derry regional airports. The services for Sligo/Donegal and Knock/Derry are provided under combined contracts.

The contracts are fixed price contracts for each route or route combination and are not based on the number of passengers travelling. However, I can advise the Deputy that just over 284,000 passengers were carried on the PSO routes in 2008 and the average cost per passenger was 50 Euro. This figure is based on the contracted costs for year 1 of the 2008-2011 contracts (i.e. 22nd July 2008 to 21st July 2009) and the total passenger numbers for the 2008 calendar year.