Call for St Patrick’s Day offensive to secure US flights

Cork’s business leaders have called for a diplomatic offensive on the White House and Washington around the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in a bid to secure transatlantic flights from Cork.

Cork Business Association (CBA) and Cork Chamber were united yesterday in their calls for increased and sustained government efforts to persaude the US authorities to rubber-stamp Norwegian Airline’s Irish subsidiary’s application a foreign carrier permit.

The airline’s plans to launch a Cork to Boston service in May have been deferred because of the unprecedented two-year delay in the licensing process. Its Cork to Barcelona route is also deferred.