COVID-19 impact on Irish airports "enormous": official

A senior airport official on Tuesday described the impact of the COVID-19 on Irish airports as "enormous."

Dalton Philips, chief executive of Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), told local media RTE that DAA has been suffering a daily loss of around one million euros (1.13 million U.S. dollars) since Saint Patrick's Day, which fell on March 17.

DAA is a semi-state company which owns and operates two largest airports in Ireland, namely Dublin Airport and Cork Airport, in addition to some other business related to aviation industry.

Philips said that the impact of the COVID-19 crisis could eventually result in a loss of an estimated 750 to 1,000 permanent jobs at two DAA airports.

He said that all staff members of DAA, including himself, have received a 20-percent pay cut.

He also predicted that it could take up to three years for passenger numbers of the two DAA airports to return to normal.

In 2019, Dublin Airport alone handled close to 33 million passengers, accounting for over 85 percent of 38.1 million passengers handled by all the airports in Ireland.

During the first five months of this year, Dublin Airport only handled over 5.2 million passengers, down 57 percent when compared with the same period last year.