Reviving airports is vital to reboot economy

Data released this week by the Irish Aviation Authority underscores the challenges facing Irish airports and their role in our economic recovery.

Traffic in Cork was down 3.4% during April from year earlier levels, while in Shannon, it was 9.8% worse, and Dublin was flat.

In the first four months of 2012, traffic is down at all three airports and activity levels are the lowest in over 10 years. These poor volumes occur despite over €1bn being spent on new terminals in both Dublin and Cork over that period.