Departure clips airport’s wings

RYANAIR’S swift departure from its Cork flights to Glasgow and East Midlands could not have come at a worse time for Cork Airport.

The beleaguered Cork Airport Authority is saddled with a debt of €113 million for a terminal building of the type that is being built in Europe and the US for 50% of that price.

Worse still, it had been told it would not have to pay off the debt itself only to have this promise broken by its bullying big brother in Dublin, from whom it can’t get a legal separation.