Transport Minister Shane Ross slams delays in Cork-Boston air route

The Transport Minister has urged the US authorities to put consumers first and clear the first Cork to US flights for take-off.

In his first public comment on Norwegian airline’s stalled licence application, Minister Shane Ross told global aviation leaders yesterday that the unprecedented delay by the US Department of Transportation (DoT) in granting the permit was not in the interests of the travelling public.

He told CEOs of some of the world’s largest airlines attending the AGM of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the World Air Transport Summit in Dublin that he has always been pro-consumer and pro-competition and that the liberalisation of the aviation sector since the 1970s has allowed increased competition and several new airlines to enter the market, providing customers with new routes, new and better services and lower fares.