Eoin English: Government must buckle up to stop Irish aviation industry nose-diving

Aer Lingus' decision about its bases at Cork Airport and Shannon has made it imperative for the Government to lay out a coherent national plan to restart our aviation industry.

Cork Airport has sought to diversify its business in the face of the pandemic, which has seen it reduced to handling as many aircraft movements in a week as it would have done by 11am on any weekday pre-pandemic.

Aviation has been in crisis for over a year. We’ve seen the passenger figures plummet to 1960s levels and heard the repeated warnings from industry figures, and pleas for the Transport Minister to act.

But political responsibility for dealing with the crisis has now landed firmly at the doorstep of the Taoiseach after Aer Lingus’s decision this week to temporarily close its base at Cork Airport, located in the heart of his own constituency.