Brennan backs US air pact

The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, has stressed his support for efforts to revise the bilateral US/Irish air transport agreement to facilitate transatlantic flights to all Irish airports.

Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Cork Airport Authority yesterday, Mr Brennan said he was "100 per cent supportive" of any campaign to bring US flights to Cork airport.

The Minister said efforts to broaden Ireland's transatlantic gateways beyond Shannon and Dublin should be backed as they would offer a boost to tourism-dependent areas such as Cork and Kerry.

"The new airport authority in Cork tell me they are examining the possibility of transatlantic flights, which would be very exciting for Cork. For my part, I have undertaken to closely examine the bilateral agreement to see if that is possible and permissible under the agreement. I will certainly start out from a position of wishing that could happen.

"Anything that Cork wants to do in terms of developing aviation will have my 100 per cent support."

The Minister's remarks come as major airlines are examining the possibility of using charter services to bypass bilateral restrictions, which limit direct transatlantic services in to gateways outside of Shannon and Dublin.

It is thought that Cork to JFK airport may be among future new transatlantic routes if there are changes in the Irish-US bilateral agreement.

Meanwhile, Mr Brennan said he was delighted by the potential offered by the Republic's new airport authorities.

"This is the first time ever that Cork will have its own airport authority.

"That authority takes office now and I am told they have very exciting plans to grow the number of passengers through Cork Airport over the coming years.

"This is a historic day for Cork airport, totally aside from the €140 million new terminal development that is going on there," he said.

Last month the director of the airport, Mr Joe O'Connor, announced plans to run four new routes to continental Europe (Munich, Rome, Nice and Faro) bringing the total number of Aer Lingus flights from the city to 11.

As part of recent expansion moves, Aer Lingus will also be basing three new Airbus 320 aircraft in Cork airport by April 2005.

The new Cork Airport board is chaired by former Apple managing director of European operations, Mr Joe Gantly. Mr Gantly is also an Aer Rianta board member.

The new board comprises 12 members, including four worker-directors. The board now completes the establishment of three airport boards designated for Dublin, Cork and Shannon as pledged by the Government.

High-profile members of the board include Bord Gáis executive Mr Pat Dalton, Beamish and Crawford managing director Mr Alf Smiddy, and Mr Humphrey Murphy of Global Stainless Ltd.