Cheap Dublin Airport car hire deals

Eager Irish soccer fans waited patiently last night at Dublin Airport for the Real Madrid team to arrive with new ninety four million euro signing Ronaldo the main attraction.

Fans gathered at the arrivals area eager to catch a glimpse of some of the world’s best footballers. Real Madrid are in Dublin for a training camp and to play a friendly game with Tallaght based Shamrock Rovers on July 20th.

Journalists were being quizzed regularly for any inside information by excited fans as to when exactly the team would arrive. A false alarm came in the shape of a returning successful Irish athlete from the Worth Youth Championships in Italy who garnered some warm applause.

Revelers from the music festival Oxygen arrived six hours early at the airport hoping to meet some of their heroes. Ticket prices for the rover’s game are already exchanging hands at extortionate prices. The small stadium in Tallaght can only cater for a small number of fans compared to the huge demand for tickets.

A strike involving over ten thousand electricians has been taking place in Dublin today after talks last week failed to secure an agreement. Supply of Electricity will not be affected in city or country areas.

The workers are looking for an eleven percent increase which they say is owed to them from an agreement made during the countries boom time.  Many believe the demands to be unrealistic given the current state of Ireland’s economy. The construction industry has been among the worst hit in the last year.

A picket is currently taking place on the terminal two building site at Dublin Airport as well as other well known locations such as Lansdowne Road where the new soccer stadium is being built.

The strike is being supported by SIPTU with spokesman Jack O’Connor saying that the electricians should be supported by regular workers.

Recent claims from Ryanair that a security failure had resulted in over fifty Ryanair passengers missing their flights have been denied by the Dublin Airport Authority.

According to Ryanair the DAA failed in their security role last Saturday the 27th June when customers were left queuing for more than half an hour. They went on to say that this was the second incident of its kind pointing to May 26th when over one hundred passengers missed their flights due to security delays.

The DAA hit back saying that they had received no complaints from any passengers regarding missed flights. They described the allegations as “completely and utterly untrue”. They went on to say that security lines can be quite long sometimes but delays should be no longer than fifteen minutes and last Saturday was no different to any other day.

The DAA believe that those who are checking in online may not be giving themselves enough time to catch their flight. They advised passengers to arrive between an hour and an hour and a half before their flight departure time.

In a move that’s seems to go against what every other airport in the world is doing right now the Commission for Aviation Regulation have decided to raise their airport charge by one euro.

At a time when most people are feeling the pinch of the current recession the move has come as a surprise to many. The increase will begin at the start of the year rising from the current rate €7.39 per individual to €8.35.

The Aviation Regulation said that the increase was necessary due to the drop in the number of people using the airport.  They also hinted that more increases may be on the way.

The news was greeted with derision by the Consumer Association stating that there will be less passengers the more the price goes up. Michael Kilcoyne said he could see no justification whatsoever for the increase.

In order to cover the expenses of Terminal two it is believed that a new charge will be introduced in 2011. Cathal Guiomard said he was unsure of the cost until the winning tender was known.

Predictably Ryanair were quick to slam the increase. They stated that the regulator is “hopelessly out of touch” with the moves being made by other airports around the world. Stephen McNamara branded the regulator as “useless”

The chief executive of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary yesterday announced that Ryanair would be cutting back on aircraft numbers at Dublin Airport and Shannon Airport for their winter timetable.

This adds to the five planes which have already been removed from Dublin this year. With two hundred and fifty job losses already recorded by the airline this year this latest news will cost another one hundred jobs according to Ryanair.

There will now be sixteen planes at Dublin Airport and three at Shannon. O’Leary went on to say that it was yet undecided where cutbacks will take place but he predicted more aircraft losses for Dublin and Shannon.

He layed the blame for the loss squarely at the door of the Irish Government slamming their ten euro airport tax which was approved last March. He predicted a further drop in tourist numbers in the coming months. He has written a letter to government leaders pledging to abandon the cuts if they remove the tax.

O’Leary believes that the money the government earns from the tax could easily be matched by higher tourism numbers which he believes would be the outcome of removing the tax.

Ryanair estimate that they will carry two and a half million less passengers in 2009 at Dublin Airport than they did the previous year.

Ryanair were once again at war with the Dublin Airport Authority today. The long running feud between the groups continued today with Ryanair accusing the DAA of false advertising.

In a recent advertising run the DAA advised passengers to arrive ninety minutes before their flight time in order to be sure of catching their flight on time. Ryanair say that this goes completely against the DAA’s assertion that you can get through security at Dublin Airport in fifteen minutes.

They believe the ads are a plan by the DAA to get customers spending money at Dublin Airport while they are waiting around for their flight. Extra income could be gained at car parks, shops etc.

Speaking on behalf of Ryanair Stephen McNamara said that’s Ryanair’s online check in has dramatically cut the amount of time people need to spend at the airport. He said that three quarters of an hour is more than enough time to arrive before your flight. He slammed the DAA for spending money on a selfish advertising campaign when they could be spending money on improving customer experiences.