Dublin Airport Authority
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Dublin Airport Authority plc or Údaras Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath cpt in Irish (known until 1 October 2004 as Aer Rianta cpt1) is the state owned airport authority in the Republic of Ireland. The authority also owns the Great Southern Hotel Group which has nine sites throughout the island of Ireland and international investments are held by Aer Rianta International. The authority runs Dublin Airport and controls the Cork Airport Authority and the Shannon Airport Authority which are responsible for Cork International Airport and Shannon Airport respectively.
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[edit] Aer Rianta
Aer Rianta was created in 1937 as Aer Rianta Teoranta and the name is derived from the Irish language for "air ways". Teoranta is the Irish word for Limited. Aer Rianta oversaw Aer Lingus during the airlines early days, as its principal shareholder, until 1966. Aer Rianta had control of Dublin Airport from its start but it was not until 1969 that Cork and Shannon airports became the responsibility of the company. In 1988 Aer Rianta International was created to pursue international potential to the company's growth not related to Irish airport management - for example, opening Russia's first duty free in Moscow in 1988. In 1990 the Great Southern Hotels Group became the responsibility of the company which was purchased from Córas Iompair Éireann. In 1998 Aer Rianta, Teoranta became Aer Rianta, cpt and kept this name until 2004.
[edit] State Airports Act, 2004
In 2004 the Oireachtas passed the State Airports Act, 2004. This renamed Aer Rianta as Dublin Airport Authority plc and established[1] Shannon Airport Authority plc and Cork Airport Authority plc. The three new authorities have power to formulate business plans for their respective airports, however they will not take charge of running the airports until further date to be determined by the Minister for Transport, which by law will not be before 1 May 2005. The company also has significant shareholdings in foreign airports such as Birmingham, Dusselldorf and Larnaca, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Aer Rianta International cpt, which retains the Aer Rianta name for now.
The State Airports Act was heavily criticised by Noel Hanlon, the outgoing chairman of Aer Rianta, and by the company's unions, who believed it a precursor to privatisation. No act to privatise Dublin Airport Authority or any of the airports has been passed however.
[edit] Footnote
Note 1: Cpt is from the Irish language cuideachta phoiblí theoranta, which means public limited company.
