Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
UPDATED 18.29
THE DAA HAS said that Dublin Airport has “dramatically improved its position” in studies of international airports, although figures leaked today show that it is ranked 98th in a global survey.
The London Times (subscription needed) published figures from a confidential report from the trade body Airports Council International. The survey of passengers in principal airports worldwide shows that Dublin Airport is ranked 98th out of 146 international airports. It is one place ahead of London Heathrow but behind airports in Calcutta, Johannesbourg and Athens.
A Dublin Airport Authority spokesperson told TheJournal.ie said that Dublin Airport doesn’t pitch itself at the ‘A’ level of infrastructural comfort and space that some of the Asian airports do. He said:
We benchmark ourselves against our peers, which are large European airports, often in capital cities, IATA LOC C is the standard in more of these airports.
The spokesperson added that the levels of service standard related “purely to the design of the physical infrastructure – they do not relate to customer service levels.”
The survey is what is known as an ASQ – or Airport Quality Data. It is not meant to be released publicly and is designed to provide benchmarking information for airports. A Dublin Airport Authority spokesperson told TheJournal.ie that it was important to determine if like was being compared with like.
The ASQ, for example, ranks Humberside – a small regional airport in England – at number nine. That airport sees around half a million passengers a year. In 2010, Dublin Airport dealt with 18.4m passengers and that figure was down an estimated 730,000 because of flight disruptions during severe winter weather and the volcanic ash crisis.
A spokesperson from the DAA said:
It is important in any benchmarking study to compare like with like.
When benchmarked against European airports that handle between 5 and 25 million passengers per annum, Dublin Airport comes eighth out of 25 in the most recent study.
Dublin has dramatically improved its position relative to its peers over the past few years due in part to the huge improvements that we have made in facilities at the airport that have transformed the passenger experience.
Dublin was eighth in the out of 25 in the most recent study carried out in the fourth quarter of 2010, but was 24th out of 25 in the third quarter of 2006.
The survey questions passengers on a wide range of issues from perceived friendliness of staff and cleanliness of toilets to operational issues.
The London Times says the top three airports in the ASQ rankings are, in this order, Singapore Changi, Incheon Seoul and Hong Kong International. Dublin Aiport comes in at No.98 just one rank ahead of London Heathrow, and also ahead of Gatwick (106), Stansted (109), Madrid (117), Frankfurt (126) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (137).
However, a DAA spokesperson said that Dublin Airport “does not set out to match airports that are designed to IATA level of service A, such as Changi in Singapore”. He added:
We benchmark ourselves against our peers, which are large European airports, often in capital cities. IATA LOS C is the standard in most of these airports and that is our core benchmark.
Terminal 2 was designed to IATA level of service C. Changi is designed to level of service A, while Terminal 5 in Heathrow is level of service B. Like Dublin, Gatwick is a level of service C airport.
The DAA also says that the leaked report is from the second quarter of 2010, before Terminal 2 opened.
We are hopeful that our benchmark scores will improve further in the coming months, as Terminal 2 opened in November and is now handling about 40 per cent of Dublin Airport’s traffic.
The IATA level of service grades are as follows: A= Excellent, B = High, C = Good, D = Adequate, E = Inadequate, F = Unacceptable.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Took me over six months to get the domestic grant payment. I had to chase it up constantly and everything went into them perfect. I Still haven’t got the payment from Energis 10 months later. If I owed them money that long, I would have no electricity. Why is there no fine or punishment to them for sticking the fingers up to the rest of us?
As with most grant systems only certain registered companies can be used. Then these companies charge more normally to the value of the grant.
@Craic_a_tower: Unfortunately that’s what usually happens when government subsidises a scheme or service. Suppliers take the P***. Happened years ago when government introduced a grant for central heating. Central heating installation went up by 2 grand over night.
Same with HAP. That has also driven rents up (as government won’t build):
@Fr. Fintan Stack: don’t agree on HAP and most landlords don’t and never wanted it hence they made it illegal to refuse
@Craic_a_tower: “don’t agree on HAP” – ??
So what are you saying? HAP hasn’t contributed to greed?
There’s no grant for a new build unfortunately which doesn’t make a huge pile of sense to me anyway. Will need to go without for now and hope to get them further down the road. If anyone knows any way around this, I’d love to hear.
Problem is the rip off sales people. Quoting people for things they don’t need, won’t work.
Also the price difference from different installers can’t be doubled for the same system.
I was luckily enough to get 7panels(2.5kw) for €2500 after the grant early last year. Price is almost doubled now. I’m going to DIY 4 or maybe 8 onto the shed roof next month ad seems the only affordable way at the moment.
There is a good thread on boards.ie i woild suggest anyone thinking of investing to read/post thete before committing to a purchase
@pkunzip doom2.zip: The quote I was given was 9k for mine, when I got my ducks in a row 2 months later it was 23.
@pkunzip doom2.zip: you’re right, a friend of mine, a carpenter, was quoted €15000 after the grant. He bought the panel and system from a company in Northern Iteland and installed the panels, the inverter, and cabling himself and got an electrician in to wire it up and certified it all for around the €7500 mark. Companies are ripping customers off.
I got solar panels 3 years ago and was assured I would qualify for grant. Assessor came out and said house was up to ber standard. Next day got call to say it wasn’t unless I provided information and rating for installed windows. Company I used for all new windows had gone out of business. It’s a joke.
Will housing trusts and country councils be installing panels on houses? If not why not?
@Mary Fitzsimons: they have been upgrade council owned property for years at no charge to the residents. It actually seems unfair on the neighbours who bought their properties from the council. As for trusts they are charities who try to house as many people they can but you seem to think they should provide better than people buying their own property.
Sun Arc Solar Systems do the majority of the grant work for the homeowner, I had my grant back in 6 weeks after the installation from this company.
@Charmaine ☘ Irish: Thing is, say for me as an example is the money you have to pay for the job. I wouldn’t be able to get a loan at my age to upgrade my home. Unless you have the money first go then it’s a non runner for a lot I’d imagine.
@Dave Barrett: yes, I get what your saying, if anyone had the money, it makes sense to get it as the money you have in the bank account or under the mattress wouldn’t give the same return as solar power.. it is a really sound investment.. but if your of a certain age, maybe idly might not make sense
I went with Activ8 and they did all the paper, they reduced the cost I paid them by the amount of the grant. I didn’t have to do a single thing
Overall the grant needs to be more or remove the vat from it
Like Charmaine I had my grant back in 8 weeks and the installer JM Energi Ballingeary did everything connected to the grant
I got my solar PV a year ago and the grant process was all online and almost all of it was done by the contractor, nice and simple. I put in a heat pump 6 months ago and the process was all by paper and post, involving me sending parts of forms to different people to fill in their bit and then have to wait for them to come back and send on to the next person, before collating it all to send onto SEAI. All very time consuming, slow and tedious. I don’t understand why they have different systems for different grants.
The worst part isn’t the grant process, it’s trying to get a contractor. It’s like they are interviewing the customers and deciding if you are worthy of their time. I feel sorry for anyone that has a non standard installation, as they will find very hard to get a contractor.
It’s the overall cost that is putting people off
From a domestic point of view I found it very easy and efficient. I applied and the same day they got back to me saying it was approved. Then 3 weeks after the installer sent in their paperwork the grant was paid into my account.
I got my solar PV a year ago and the grant process was all online and almost all of it was done by the contractor, nice and simple. I put in a heatpump 6 months ago and the process was all by paper and post, involving me sending parts of forms to different people to fill in their bit and then have to wait for them to come back and send on to the next person, before collating it all to send onto SEAI. All very time consuming, slow and tedious. I don’t understand why they have different systems for different grants.
The worst part isn’t the grant process, it’s trying to get a contractor. It’s like they are interviewing the customers and deciding if you are worthy of their time. I feel sorry for anyone that has a non standard installation, as they will find very hard to get a contractor.
I refurbished an old house and filled all the forms for SEAI , got BER, technical assessment fully compliant registered contractor as required. Spent €€€€ on roof, walls, floor, heat pump. Still waiting for ‘Michelle’ in SEAI to deal with my claim ……..! Complete waste of time !
This could be solved by a process that allowed the householder to sign the grant over to the installer, with a robust auditing process and the use of approved installers. That process works in other areas.
If every building had wind/solar… hmmm
have your say