Aer Rianta break-up boost from credit ratings agency

THE proposed break-up of Aer Rianta has been given a boost with a leading credit ratings agency saying that it does not see the split having a major impact on the company's ability to repay its debt.

There have been fears that Aer Rianta's bankers would call in their loans early because of uncertainty about the future viability of the three airports once Aer Rianta is split up.

However, Standard & Poor's, the world's biggest credit ratings firm, said that the break-up should not result in the immediate repayment of Aer Rianta's €479 million debt. Questions were raised last week about Aer Rianta's debt position by Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte, who said that the company could be forced to repay some of its loans if the Government went ahead with setting up Cork, Shannon and Dublin airport companies.