US travel chiefs urge Obama to approve Cork flights to Boston

Some of the most influential travel industry leaders in America have urged US President Barack Obama to approve a licence for low-cost flights to the US from Ireland.

In a letter to Obama, the CEOs of several top hotels and travel groups described his administration’s delay in processing Norwegian Air International’s (NAI) foreign carrier permit application as “inexcusable”. NAI, an Irish subsidiary of low-fares giant, Norwegian, applied to the US Department of Transportation (DoT) for the permit on February 14, 2014. The airline wants to launch low-cost flights from Cork to Boston and New York under the terms of the EU/US Open Skies Agreement.

However, its application has faced bitter opposition from certain US and European labour and airline unions which have questioned the airline’s labour practices, accusing the airline of setting up an Irish operation as a “flag of convenience” — a claim the airline has consistently rejected.