Regional airports petition Lenihan over tax

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan is being petitioned by five regional airports to abolish the €10 travel tax in the regions to protect their viability.

In a joint statement, Knock, Donegal, Galway, Sligo and Waterford airports said they were strongly opposed to the tax outlined in the recent budget, describing it as inequitable and a retrograde step.

They said it would have serious consequences for the tourism and aviation industries, as well as for companies reliant on air travel from regional airports to sustain and develop their businesses and the local economy.

Knock Airport chief executive, Robert Grealis, said it was essential Mr Lenihan and Government representatives consulted with the regional airports in particular and recognised that Ireland’s regions relied on tourism to a far greater extent than in Dublin, which was supported by other industries.

“Given that the regions have a small fraction of the overall air capacity in Ireland, the Government needs to ensure that the existing air capacity we’ve worked so hard to win is not lost as airlines will choose to fly to high population city destinations in Europe over Ireland’s regions,” he said.

“The west and north-west region in particular is very much underserved, with flights having just 3% of the total departing passenger market in Ireland. Therefore, an amendment abolishing the tax from the regional airports serving this catchment will have negligible effects on the overall revenue targets projected by the Government.

“On the contrary, the benefits of making the amendments we are suggesting far outweigh the inevitable loss of revenue to our region’s economy.”

A regional airports spokesman said the tax “also seeks to make airports the collector of taxes, a system which is unworkable and outside of the remit of airports”.

Meanwhile, Aer Lingus and its union began exploratory talks at the Labour Relations Commission yesterday aimed at averting strike action by ground crew in the Christmas period.

SIPTU, which represents the 1,700 staff at the airline, has until Monday to detail how it proposes to raise its proportion of €50 million in staff savings. Otherwise, the airline will proceed with outsourcing or making redundant 1,300 of the union’s members, a move that will trigger a strike.