Enda Kenny urged to intervene on Cork-US flights

There have been renewed calls for Taoiseach Enda Kenny to intervene to secure Cork’s first transatlantic flights after Hilary Clinton urged the White House to block the proposed service.

The Democratic presidential hopeful called on the incumbent Barack Obama to refuse a licence to Dublin-based low-cost carrier Norwegian Air International (NAI) to operate transatlantic flights from Ireland under the terms of the EU-US Open Skies Agreement.

This is despite her welcoming the Open Skies Agreement in 2011 when, as secretary of state, she said restrictive inter-government deals before the landmark agreement had stifled competition. “They kept airlines from entering certain markets. They forced shipping companies to fly inefficient routes with half-empty airplanes. And, by stifling competition, they kept air fares artificially high,” she had said.