McEvaddys’ €2bn plan for third terminal at Dublin Airport faces ‘significant obstacles’

A €2bn third terminal at Dublin Airport planned by the McEvaddy brothers would face significant obstacles, a new report says.

The report from international aviation research firm CAPA says these would include the level of potential cooperation with the DAA and questions over who would actually operate the facility.

Des and Ulick McEvaddy and other individuals own 260 acres of land between the two runways at Dublin Airport.

Last year they put the land up for sale with an estimated €210m price tag. The DAA, the semi-state company that controls airports at Dublin and Cork, bid less than €70m for the land. Other bidders for the land included the billionaire Comer brothers from Galway.

But earlier this month, a company controlled by the McEvaddys lobbed in a planning application for a development that would include a passenger terminal, hotel, office space and a cargo terminal.

The DAA – headed by chief executive Kenny Jacobs – has previously insisted it doesn’t yet need a third terminal, and that when it does, it will build it beside its existing two terminals.

“DAA’s focus is on our own infrastructure application, which is well developed and based on the practical needs of passengers and airlines,” the DAA said this month.

CAPA says there are few cases around the world where a publicly-operated airport permits a private operator to build and manage an onsite terminal.

“If this third terminal does go ahead, in whatever form (and it isn’t yet clear where the finance would come from), and is built, then there is the question of who would operate it,” said CAPA in a report.

It questioned which potential operator would be prepared to take on the DAA on its home turf.

“The logical response would be Ryanair,” suggests CAPA. It says the airline has “dabbled” with airport operations, but “has never come close to doing what it has threatened to do at several airports over the years”.

Ryanair group chief executive Michael O’Leary has previously called for an independent terminal at Dublin Airport and in 2016 even suggested that Ryanair could build one there for €200m.

The DAA is currently pursuing a €2bn capital investment plan at Dublin Airport, but growth at the gateway is hampered by a cap on the amount of passengers that can use the facility.

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