Dublin Airport has announced that it will not contest a judgment by the competition authority preventing it from acquiring a neighbouring car park with 6,200 spaces. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) recently blocked the sale of the former Quick Park complex on Swords Road in Santry to the airport authority, arguing it would give the DAA a near monopoly on parking in the area. On Friday, DAA declared it would not challenge the ruling.
They based this move on a “careful examination” of the CCPC’s verdict and the aim of reopening the facility’s parking spaces for passengers before the summer season. With increasing demand for parking at Ireland’s primary airport, warning were issued for this Easter bank holiday weekend that all available space was likely to be fully booked.
The DAA highlighted on Friday that additional parking spaces urgently needed to be provided at Dublin Airport. The airport operator therefore urge not only the QuickPark site owners, but any other interested parties, to quickly reopen and ease the intense pressure on the airport’s car parks, which are fully booked for the current Easter weekend.
Although DAA sees the potential benefit for an appeal against the CCPC’s decision, they anticipate that any appeal process could take years. They believe passengers can’t wait that long for these parking spaces to become available again. As a result of the decision, there are concerns that travellers could experience a shortage of car parking spaces at the nation’s largest airport this summer, leading to previous bidders being ready to rejoin the bidding process for the car park.