Chai Brady
Faith has been a positive anchor for Dublin airport’s CEO during stressful times, Chai Brady hears
For as long as he can remember, the CEO of DAA (previously called Dublin Airport Authority) has said his Faith has been a part of his life and has helped throughout his business career.
In an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with The Irish Catholic CEO Kenny Jacobs discussed his faith, being religious as a person in business, pilgrimage, the controversy around blessing planes and more.
Mr Jacobs takes his mother to Mass every Sunday and often visits the chapel in Dublin airport, saying “For as long as I can remember Faith was important in my family and still is”.
Reinforced
His faith was reinforced through his education in Cork City in Christian Brothers College, and further through being an altar boy.
The business world is certainly no stranger to Mr Jacobs, having worked for companies such as Tesco, Ryanair, Metro Group and now DAA, and due to his occupations he has lived in the UK, Germany, the US and now Ireland again.
His faith has supported him in high pressure situations. He said: “It absolutely helps in those stressful times because it’s a positive anchor, it gives you a frame and it gives you somewhere else to channel your energies, it gives you values, and it gives you a lens in which to look at those challenging situations/decisions that you have to make and see what’s the right thing to do next.
So there’s always something going wrong somewhere. I know my faith is always there with me in the background when you’re those stressful situations”
“And then on commercial and operational stuff, they are different things, that’s pulling levers and saying ‘we want this price’ or ‘we want that price’: doing deals, but it certainly guides you in those stressful moments, every stressful time, and there are many in business.”
The DAA run two airports in Ireland – three in Saudi Arabia – and 30 Duty free shops, to name a few responsibilities. “So there’s always something going wrong somewhere. I know my faith is always there with me in the background when you’re in those stressful situations,” Mr Jacobs said.
Advice
Asked what advice he would give to young people of faith who are perhaps studying in university and will enter the business world – and whether it may be a challenge to live Gospel values – Mr Jacobs said: “I don’t think it makes it difficult, there’s a lot of senior business people that I would know that are people of Faith, different faiths, and I think it gives them that framework, that positive anchor, that consistency in how they decide things. Being in business does not mean you can’t be a person of Faith.
“If they are a person of Faith I would just always say: be yourself. It’s a weird world that we’re in sometimes, and difficult situations come and go. I would say rolling with those waves is something you have to do as a young person in your career. Give yourself some really positive anchors that will help you along, you have to keep moving and those anchors shouldn’t pull you back, but they will give you constancy, support. They are family. They are Faith. They are your friends. They are your hobbies.
“Going from school to university and from university to starting work, your faith, your family, sports, music: have those things with you at the big crossroads in life and it really will help you just make that transition,” he said.
Mr Jacobs said the detrimental effects of being outside the office are individuals missing out on face-to-face interactions and meetings, and cross-pollination”
Having “sharp elbows and being tough” does not mean a need to “abandon your Faith”, Mr Jacobs insisted, adding “we’ve all met people of Faith who are tough people and those two can go hand in hand”.
Working from home, particularly for younger people who have just joined an office, should be avoided the CEO advised – this is something he has told all his young staff. Despite this the DAA do allow for flexibility, with people being able to work from home two days a week.
Mr Jacobs said the detrimental effects of being outside the office are that individuals miss out on face-to-face interactions and meetings, and cross-pollination. People soak up information in a work environment like sponges much more effectively than in online meetings, he said, adding “you will learn faster and you’ll develop faster”.
Jacobs took on the DAA role two years ago. Looking back on the year he believes 2024 will be the DAA’s best ever year in terms of financial performance, operational performance and commercial performance. However, the ‘passenger cap’ on the airport is “outdated” and “everybody agrees it should go”.
He warned that if Dublin airport’s passenger cap is not lifted there will be a “big reduction” in the number of charter flights taking pilgrims to holy sites around the world. “The lawyers are the only ones making loads of money by everyone being stuck in this spiral,” he said.
If the cap stayed in place forever, you would see a big reduction in the number of pilgrim flights which would be a problem”
Mr Jacobs explained: “About two-thirds of pilgrim flights are charter flights. The passenger cap impact is that charter flights are the first things to go. So if we’re stuck at a certain level, the airlines that have their slots to places like Heathrow, like Charles de Gaulle, they keep those, but the charter operators can’t get special flights to go to pilgrim destinations and then the airlines can’t add them.
“Sporting events and then special events, like pilgrim flights, would be highly impacted by the passenger cap. If the cap stayed in place forever, you would see a big reduction in the number of pilgrim flights which would be a problem,” he said.
Passenger numbers are capped at 32 million a year under a 2007 planning condition attached to the construction of Terminal 2. In 2024 the airport is believed to have dealt with 33 million passengers, with Mr Jacobs believing this will increase to 34 million this year.
“If you had a major religious event or a major sporting event being hosted in Ireland and a lot of charter fights wanted to come, with the passenger cap in place, they can’t get in,” Mr Jacobs said.
In November, a High Court decision saw a stay granted against a decision by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to restrict the number of take-off and landing slots that would be available at Dublin Airport for the 2025 summer season. It is unclear whether this will be extended for the 2025 winter season. The passenger cap matter is currently being considered at EU level, with a final decision expected in about a year.
Mr Jacobs added that pilgrimage is “massively important”.
“At certain times, in September and October, if I’m walking around the airport, on average I will see three groups of pilgrims heading on different flights,” he said.
“I’m delighted that this is an airport for pilgrims of all faiths… I love interacting with those groups, they’re positive people. It’s great interacting with them when they come back as you can sometimes meet the same people, and you can tell they feel more powerful coming back, it’s wonderful to see.”
Airport church
The church at Dublin airport is called Our Lady Queen of Heaven and was built in 1964. It has long served the airport community, which is the size of an average Irish town. In December Fr Justin Obijuru took the reins as the new chaplain following Fr Des Doyle’s reappointment after 16 years of service.
Mr Jacobs tries to get out to the church a couple of times a week, telling this paper: “It’s lovely going to the church, you will see cabin crew in their uniforms there before they head on a flight. That’s really interesting to see.
“Why are they going there? They’re going there because it’s an energiser before they go to work. I think that’s wonderful to see. There’s so many things they could do, they can go grab a coffee, they can be on the phone, they could be on the internet, but they’re choosing to go and be with their God before they get on the plane.”
Blessing of planes
The blessing of planes began in 1947 with the blessing of an Aer Lingus aircraft, and since 1967 it has taken place on Christmas Day when the airport is closed. New aviation security protocols introduced in January 2024 suggested the tradition might have to end due to new protocols – causing uproar among the faithful at the time.
This ended when the DAA confirmed the tradition would continue ‘airside’ (the part of an airport used by aircraft for loading and unloading and take-offs and landings) as Fr Des had the correct credentials. This was communicated directly to the priest by the DAA. It was state the traditional blessings would continue airside, at least that was what was subsequently reported widely by the media in April, including by this paper. However, the priest allowed to go airside, Fr Des, was transferred to another parish a few months later – meaning the blessing can longer go ahead airside.
We’re now moving it from airside to landside. I think that’s got some other benefits. Look, airside means you’re closer to the planes. Landside, I think more people will get to participate”
Mr Jacobs stated the blessing will continue, and will be more inclusive as more people will be able to attend if it’s ‘landside’. He explained Fr Des “was able to go onto the ramp for historic reasons, the regulation has changed and you have to be working at the airport to get access to certain parts.
“So that was a change that then made us say, ‘well, okay, we’re not able to do it because Des is moving on and because the regulation is changed and he had his ID before the regulation changed – then we need to do something new. So we’re now moving it from airside to landside. I think that’s got some other benefits. Look, airside means you’re closer to the planes. Landside, I think more people will get to participate.”
Nervous flyers
The DAA has a viewing area landside that has been identified as a good location for the blessing.
He added: “Have you ever been on a plane with nervous flyers? I see them doing two things, drinking or praying, sometimes both, so regardless of people’s faith they do close their eyes and you see the lips moving and you know they are praying, or they have rosary beads… the blessing of planes is good regardless of people’s faith.
It’s a little city and every little city needs several different things, it needs policing, security, medical… and I’m delighted this little city has a church at the centre of the campus”
“Some people will say ‘Why are you doing it at all?’ They don’t need to worry, or bother communicating that to us because it’s for people of Faith who want to come, and they do connect their faith with travel and that’s a good thing. It is also good for the community here. There’s 10,000 people who work here, it’s like a little city, everything happens here, from good things to bad things, we’ve lost several souls every year on the airport campus and you have to deal with that. We have homelessness, we have suicide, we have violence, we have crime – it’s a little city and every little city needs several different things, it needs policing, security, medical… and I’m delighted this little city has a church at the centre of the campus.”
Mr Jacobs is completely opposed to the idea of taking signs and symbols of the Catholic faith out of the public sphere, and that we should not try to erase history. “The church at this airport will always be here. I hope we’ll always have a priest. We have multi-faith prayer rooms in both terminals and they are used by people of all faiths,” he said, adding, “We have our traditions, people should respect our traditions. This is a Catholic country, it has been historically, and that is the main faith whether people are practising or not, there’s a history to that, that should be respected. And I certainly don’t think things should be removed.”