CECIL BRETT
Cecil Brett, then the Car Parks Manager at Dublin Airport, interviewed by Editor Liam Keilthy in March 2002
LK: Aer Rianta carried more than 18 million
passengers last year with 14 million of these using Dublin Airport. How many
cars parked in your car parks?
CB: During 2001 we catered for 2 million short-stay and
400,000 long-stay cars. 80% of visitors to our short-stay car parks are
‘meeters and greeters’ and they stay for less than three hours. On the other
hand, 80% of our longstay parkers stay for seven days or longer – mostly
holiday travellers!
LK: Unlike city car parks, you can’t put out a “FULL”
sign. You have to provide capacity for the busiest days. How do you cope?
CB: At Dublin Airport we have 3,800 short-stay and 14,200
long-stay spaces. The short-stay spaces are located in the three multi-storey
car parks with an additional 1,350 surface spaces. The two long-stay car parks
– 10,000 spaces at Eastlands and 4,200 at Southlands—are served by a 24 hour 7
day bus service. We provide 5,000 staff, 50 bus and 150 rental spaces.
LK: Tell me about the tariff structure at the airport car
parks
CB: Short-stay customers pay €2.00/hour to a max. of
€16.00/day. In the long term car parks, the charges are set at €6.60/day or €33.00/wk.
LK: With almost 120 acres of parking— 23,000 spaces—on the
site, there must be special challenges for you and your team?
CB: We have 37 staff at the car parks. The bus and vehicle
breakdown services are contracted out. We have the support of the airport for
things like cleaning, security patrols, gardening, trolley management and
day-to day maintenance. We have to cater for the in-bound tourists with little
English, disabled drivers, people who forget where they left their cars etc.
LK: Do charter flights pose particular challenges for your
car parks?.
CB: We can have 8 charters arriving, being turned around
and departing within one hour. This
means up to 1,200 people arriving with
luggage and all parked in the long term car parks. Even
with our six 100-seater buses, this is a
big load to cater for in an hour. Bear in mind that we have another 1,200
people waiting to depart, and they are all using the long-stay car parks too!
LK: How did the September 11th attacks in the US affect
operations?
CB: The immediate impact was a dramatic decline in
passenger numbers through the airport, especially on US routes. Off-setting
this has been the growth in low-cost airline traffic through Dublin. In January
traffic was up by 5% on the same month last year, and the figures for February
are holding at similar levels.
We are optimistic about the long term
future, and to this end we propose to build another
short term multi-storey car park at
Collinstown. We look forward to development of the new rail
link from the city centre. We at Aer
Rianta are 100% committed to meeting the needs of the flying and parking
public.
