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DUBLIN, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Rival Irish airlines Ryanair and Aer Lingus and Cityjet, part of the Air France-KLM group, issued a rare joint statement on Wednesday urging Dublin to scrap an airport tax.
The Irish government imposed the 10-euro ($14.9) departure tax a year ago in the first of its two emergency budgets so far to bring one of Europe's biggest deficits in line with EU guidelines.
It is planning further austerity measures worth 4 billion euros in the 2010 budget, which will be presented in December.
"Since the 10-euro tourist tax was imposed, the monthly traffic at Dublin Airport has fallen by up to 15 percent," the chief executives of the three airlines said in the joint statement.
"In 2009, Dublin Airport will lose some 3 million passengers, as traffic falls from 24 million to approximately 21 million," they said.

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(Reporting by Andras Gergely; Editing by Greg Mahlich) Keywords: RYANAIR AERLINGUS/TAX (andras.gergely@reuters.com; +35315001518; Reuters Messaging: andras.gergely.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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