U-turn inevitable on airline aid - union

The European Union will be forced to allow the Irish Government to aid Irish airline Aer Lingus which has suffered a dive in bookings after the attacks on America, a union said today.

General workers’ union Siptu said it was ‘‘inevitable’’ that there would be a u-turn on the policy of not granting state aid to airline companies, otherwise ‘‘the only airlines left flying will be the American airlines’’.