Irish Examiner view: Consumer power is the only answer to air travel chaos

Without major Government direction, the unspoken attitude of the airport authority, and indeed the flight operators, is that the consumer has to suck up the difficulties in the short term

Around 1,400 people missed flights last weekend due to long queues for departures at Dublin Airport. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins

It is natural that the ongoing crisis in the management of air passenger traffic should throw a strong focus on the dominance of Dublin Airport in our commercial aviation strategy and lead to demands for capacity to be switched to major regional airports such as Cork and Shannon or to Knock and Farranfore. It should prompt further questions of the Daa’s ownership and management of Cork Airport, too.

The Central Statistics Office shows that Dublin accounts for almost 86% of air passengers in Ireland. By comparison, London, which has five airports at Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick, Luton, and City, handles around 60% of British traffic, linking with 14 domestic and 396 international destinations. Dublin is still a popular choice with those flying to and from Britain.