Ireland West Airport critical of O'Leary 'flakey' claims

Ireland West Airport have hit out at Ryanair's Michael O'Leary who described the future of the airport as 'flakey'.

The statement reads: "We are no strangers to demeaning comment on our future. It was 22 years ago when others viewed the Airport as a joke and said “it could never happen.” At least now we are elevated above the no hope zone to having “flaky” chances. Perhaps in another 20 years we might even be accused of being a “reasonably good” airport.

They have also pointed to the fact that the airport has been recently commended by Ryanair on achieving an “outstanding” 99% performance for on-time aircraft turn-arounds.

They added: "Notwithstanding the challenges ahead and in thanks to our valued customers, we have managed to increase our passenger numbers by a quarter so far this year, an increase which, in all humility, we have to regard as reasonably good and compares reasonably well when looking at general trends at other airports in the UK and Ireland."

The airport management have also revealed that they will be providing free Cadbury’s ‘Flake’ chocolate bars to our staff, including Ryanair’s own staff, at our Airport.