Jettisoning airline is as good as clipping public's wings
A sale of Aer Lingus could signal the end of low-cost fares for Irish travellers, writes Kevin O'Rourke
It may not be obvious to you if you're, say, 40 or under, but this is a golden age for Irish air travellers. Those of us who are of a certain age remember the days before Ryanair opened up the Irish market to competition.
It wasn't just the exorbitant fares that passengers had to pay - there was also the inconvenience of constantly having to fly through London or some other hub in order to get to some moderately out-of-the way destination. What could have been a one or two hour flight regularly became a whole day affair.
Nowadays, we are spoiled for choice. There are direct flights from Ireland to destinations all across Europe, and further afield, and a lot of the flights are very cheap. Thanks to competition between Aer Lingus and British Airways, the Dublin-Heathrow route, which is one of the busiest in the world, is also extremely cheap to fly, if you know what you are doing.
