Updated 6.50pm

THE CHAIRMAN OF the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) David Dilger is resigning it was confirmed this evening.

Dilger is said to be stepping down from his position “to afford more time to his broad range of other interests” and his resignation will take effect from 31 May, according to a statement on the DAA website.

The chairman has been in the position for close to two years and is said to be interested in pursuing a range of other business interests at this time.

Declan Collier, chief executive of DAA – which owns Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports – thanked Dilger for his contribution over his two years as chairman in a statement:

David has been an excellent Chairman of the company and we wish him well in the future.

In March it was revealed that Dublin Airport was ranked below airports in Calcutta, Johannesburg and Athens in an international airport survey that ranked Dublin 98th out of 146 international airports, putting it ahead of London Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick, Paris Charles De Gaulle and Madrid airports.

Ryanair has welcomed Dilger’s resignation saying that he had “presided over the waste of €1.2 billion on Dublin Airport’s unnecessary Terminal 2 white elephant and record traffic collapses at Cork, Dublin, and Shannon Airports from 30 million passengers in 2008 to just over 20 million in 2010.”

The airline also called for the resignation of the rest of the DAA board.

In response, a spokesperson for the DAA told TheJournal.ie this evening that he “wouldn’t dignify that nonsense with a comment.”