The future of parking at Dublin Airport is now ‘up in the air’ after it was blocked from buying a nearby car park, a leading travel journalist has said.

The QuickPark facility at Santry is privately owned and would have bolstered the car parking capacity at the airport by 6,200.

Dublin Airport operator, DAA, had been the frontrunner to buy the facility but was blocked from doing so by the Competitions and Consumer Protection CCPC.

The competition watchdog said it would have given the airport a “monopoly” on parking in the area when making their ruling.

'Urgent'

The DAA has said today they will not be appealing the decision but that there is an “urgent” need for more parking spaces at Dublin Airport.

On Late Breakfast today, Travel Extra editor Owen Corry said there's lots at stake here for the DAA.

“There are over 6,000 spaces at QuickPark and 30,000 total at Dublin Airport so this effectively means 20% of their entire capacity is out of action,” he said.

“You’ll remember last summer the car park was booked out for key dates in July and August but it’s actually booked out today as well.

“None of the car parks you can book online are available for today or tomorrow.

"There's a little in the green car park on Sunday and it’s a little better next week, but it’s a big blow for anyone bringing their car to the airport.”

A taxi queue at Dublin Airport, 10-9-11. Image: Radharc Images / Alamy

Mr Corry said the car park's future is now “up in the air”.

“The DAA was the only major player to purchase that car park last year,” he said.

“Others had issued a few statements at the time, but there is still time for another player if everything goes well and the purchase goes through quickly, they could have it up and running in a week.”

Summer routes

Mr Corry said it couldn’t come at a worse time for Dublin Airport as seasonal summer routes are starting to open up.

“We’ve got over 100 summer routes arriving in Dublin, about 50 in Belfast, 17 in Shannon, and 20 in Cork too,” he said.

“These are routes that don’t run through the year, quite a few of them begin in April when airlines take those extra aircraft that had been parked up over the winter and put them in the sky.

“Sicily is a good example; we’ve got two new routes, one from Aer Lingus and one from Ryanair – a couple from Greece too, mainly with Aer Lingus.

“We also have a new long-haul route coming in May from Aer Lingus to Denver, Colorado.”

Main image: Car Parking and Industrial Units Dublin Airport Ireland. Image: Peter Titmuss / Alamy Stock Photo