Irish Examiner view: ‘Symbolic’ airport needs aid package

Cork Airport marks the 59th anniversary of its opening in 1961. File picture. 

There is a cruel irony to the timing of the announcement that Ryanair is to close its bases at Shannon and Cork airports, returning connectivity to 1960s levels. It comes just as Cork International Airport marks the 59th anniversary of its opening  in 1961.

This newspaper celebrated the occasion with fanfare, trumpeting the city’s ‘SYMBOLIC AIRPORT’ in bold capital letters across the front page. Fianna Fáil Taoiseach Seán Lemass was triumphant. “This new airport in Cork symbolises our purpose and will help us in our desire to have the world see us as a modern progressive state.”

He said it would have a “most stimulating effect” on the industry and trade of Cork and would benefit tourism. How dispiriting, then, that on the same day, almost six decades on, newspapers are announcing the very opposite — devastation, shock, and an economic downturn that will ripple throughout the southern and mid-west regions as Ryanair announces a winter closure.

Eddie Wilson, Ryanair CEO, has accused transport minister Eamon Ryan of doing nothing to help the aviation sector all summer. The airline had repeatedly called on the Government to open up air travel by adopting an EU-style traffic light system where countries would be labelled green, amber or red based on their Covid-19 figures.

The Cabinet will discuss those measures on Tuesday. However, that is not enough. There is also an urgent need to outline an aviation policy to see us over the coming months and to add significantly to the €10m financial support earmarked in the Budget.

While we deeply regret these winter schedule cuts they have been forced upon us by Government mismanagement of EU air travel.https://t.co/JpjU6xu6Z6

— Ryanair Press Team (@RyanairPress) October 15, 2020

Cork Airport was Ireland's fastest-growing airport before Covid-19, Niall MacCarthy, the airport’s managing director, has said, but now it is looking at a 95%-plus reduction in traffic levels.

The outlook is similarly bleak at Shannon — and indeed Toulouse and the other airports where airline bases have been closed. Mary Considine, CEO of Shannon Airport, said the news was very disappointing not only for the airport, but for the entire region.

Last year, Shannon airport celebrated its 80th birthday and its position as “the centrepiece and driver of the regional economy”. Now all of that is in jeopardy. Ryanair’s decision was followed by news that Aer Lingus will also review operations at both airports.

It is at times like these that you would miss the towering move-mountains attitude of a figure like Monsignor James Horan, the parish priest of Knock who led the successful campaign to open an airport on “a foggy, boggy hill”, as one Fine Gael minister famously described it.

The Monsignor’s guiding phrase was: “You see, we don’t want the West of Ireland to become a bird sanctuary”. The natural wonder of the regions has to be preserved, of course, but so too must the vital connections to the wider world. Without them, the economic fallout across the southern half of the country is incalculable.

Cork Airport contributes to the employment of more than 12,000 people in Ireland while Shannon Group supports over 45,000 jobs and both generate billions for the Irish economy.

It is time for urgent action now or there might not be much to celebrate when Cork Airport turns 60 next year.