Aer Rianta break-up ‘good for airports’

CORK and Shannon airports will grow once they are independent of Aer Rianta and the dominance of Dublin airport, a top Canadian airport executive predicted yesterday.

The president and chief executive of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Louis Turpen, who witnessed the break-up of the Canadian airport system in the 1990's said: "Toronto airport subsidised virtually every other Canadian airport, but the break-up put an end to this and gave the smaller airports a new direction. They were then free to set their own rates and charges and to come up with their own strategies.

"The Canadian experience was a huge success and the travelling public and local economy benefited greatly," he said.