The owner of Dublin Airport is “not the highest bidder” for the 260-acre landbank up for sale between the runways at Dublin Airport, according to the Sunday Business Post.

Three adjacent lots in the centre of the airport are being sold by brothers Ulick and Des McEvaddy; Seán Fox; and Brendan and Orla O’Donoghue as a package or as three separate parcels.

And the airport operator is understood to have previously anticipated that it would be the only bidder for the the land parcels, which were brought to market in June with a guide price in excess of €205M-€210M.

The land is seen as critical for the airport’s long-term expansion and would have strategic importance for a future third terminal or other developments at the airport.

Earlier this summer DAA CEO Kenny Jacobs said that the airport operator had no immediate plans for the land and could be the only bidder, but he warned at the time that he would not pay “crazy prices.”

The guide-price valuation on the 260-acre Dublin landbank puts its value at around €800K per acre, around half the €1.6M price per acre that the airport authority paid in a €70M deal for a car park site outside the airport campus earlier in 2023.

A source told the Sunday Business Post that negotiations are ongoing over the sale of the land bank, with a number of parties still interested in the purchase of the site, and that some of the initial bids were “well in excess” of the asking price.

However, another source said that DAA is now “not in contention” to buy the land, given other bids, while another source said the airport operator is “neither in nor out” at this stage but that its bid was not the highest.

Dublin Airport handles about 90% of Irish air traffic and the DAA has been pushing for the expansion of Terminals 1 and 2 instead of a third terminal.

Alternatives include development or expansion of other Irish airports, according to the Irish government's national development and planning framework.

The Irish Air Corps Casement Aerodrome HQ at Baldonnel has been identified as a possible development site for a commercial airport alongside the military facility, while a runway extension is planned at Waterford, which has had no flights since June 2016, though regional airport development would be more likely to focus on Cork and Shannon.