O'Leary's airport pricing claims sharply criticised

Clare-based hotelier Michael Vaughan said charges at Shannon "are a fair price for a fair service offered".

He was responding to a letter by Mr O'Leary to Clare County Council, in which he claimed that Shannon "has continued to implode" as a direct result of "unjustified Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) cost increases".

He had warned passenger numbers would fall below 1.5 million in 2011.

In the letter, Mr O'Leary said rapid traffic growth could only be achieved at Shannon when it was "freed from the dead hand of the Dublin airport monopoly".

However, Mr Vaughan said yesterday: "This is a tired old song from Ryanair. The Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, called the airline's bluff when offering to abolish the air travel tax.

"I don't believe that a change of ownership at Shannon will improve the airport's fortunes.

"It operates from a catchment area of 400,000 and unless Mr O'Leary can dramatically extend that catchment, I don't believe the catchment has the population to sustain a strong base for new flights over a winter period."

Mr Vaughan said "one model he would support would be Government subvention to help Shannon airport. In the current airport structure, he noted, it was very difficult to reduce costs.

"At the moment, there is no appetite for investment from a third party in the airport. The truth of the matter is that we are all trying to create new business, but we are struggling.

"The current airport board has made strident efforts to reduce costs."

The letter by Mr O'Leary to the council arose from the local authority passing a motion calling on Ryanair to deliver on its commitment to increase passenger traffic at Shannon following the abolition of the EUR 10 air travel tax.

Mr O'Leary described the motion as "inaccurate in fact and absurd'.

The airline boss asked what motion the councillors had tabled in response to "naked price gouging in Shannon".