Sir, - It is interesting to see how many people seem to want to kick Aer Lingus when it's down. These include a number of prominent economists, who seem to be seduced by Mr Michael O'Leary's free-market notions, and the European Commission, which adheres to rules that went out of date as soon as the US Government went to the rescue of the American carriers.
Before Mr O'Leary's time, Ryanair had no trouble in accepting State aid, in the form of Dublin-Liverpool and Dublin-Stansted routes, which the Irish Government lifted without compensation from Aer Lingus and handed free of charge to the then troubled Ryanair.
What happens if it goes? Ireland is left to the tender mercies of the free market, as represented by Ryanair and anyone else who might temporarily find it profitable to fly in here.
Ryanair and Aer Lingus cannot be directly compared, and should not be viewed as if they were in direct competition with each other.
Ryanair does not currently compete against the giant airlines on the North Atlantic routes. Moreover, according to its own booking literature, it is a "point-to-point" airline. In other words, once you step off the aeroplane, it doesn't want to know. Does Ryanair have a long-term commitment to Ireland? The extent to which itis Irish at all is debatable. Last year, 75 per cent of its passengers did not fly into or out of Ireland. Its non-Irish routes are more important to it than its Irish ones. It is a public company which happens to trade on the Irish Stock exchange. Who knows where most of its shareholders reside? Most British people do not realise that Ryanair is not a British-registered company. - Yours, etc.,
Paul Kenny, Kimmage Road West, Dublin 12.