Ryanair bases hangar in Germany

RYANAIR has chosen Germany as the location for its controversial hangar, which was the subject of a political storm recently.

The airline will create 200 jobs at Frankfurt Hahn airport as part of a €25 million investment.

Ryanair came head-to- head with the Government earlier this year when the airline said it would base 300 jobs at Dublin Airport if the Government assisted the airline in acquiring Hangar Six which is currently occupied by Aer Lingus. However, no deal was reached and Ryanair is now building the hangar, which includes a 16-room cabin crew training unit in Germany.

Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary hit out at the Government yesterday saying they “stood idly by and did nothing to win these new jobs for Ireland”.

He said hundreds of SRT engineers who remain unemployed “could have found skilled, well-paid work with Ryanair, had the Irish Government accepted the airline’s offer to buy or lease Hangar 6 and divert a significant proportion of Ryanair’s base maintenance to Dublin Airport”.

“The Irish Government talks a lot about competitiveness, but is short on action.

“Sadly in Ireland, we are stuck with a Government which likes talking about the ‘smart economy’ but prefers implementing ‘dumb policy’,” he said.

Ryanair initially said it would create 500 jobs at Dublin airport but when a deal looked unlikely it announced that 200 of the positions were being located at Prestwick airport in Glasgow. Fine Gael transport spokesman Fergus O’Dowd said this is a blow to the former SR Technics technicians, to Ireland’s aviation industry and to the nation’s army of unemployed.

“It’s a tragedy that no one in Government was able to sit down with the warring parties and thrash out a solution.

“Up to 500 jobs were initially on offer. Unfortunately, a combination of incompetence and disinterest by a string of cabinet ministers meant the opportunity was lost.