While the future of Aer Rianta International is now secure under the umbrella of the Dublin Airport Authority, the same cannot be said for the regional airport of Cork where the Irish Government appears to

have done a complete U-turn.
When the Government announced the break up of Aer Rianta in 2003, the then Transport Minister Seamus Brennan promised that the airport authorities in Shannon and Cork would start independent operations debt free.
But it now looks as though Cork Airport Authority will be required to repay half the debt for its new E160m terminal which is due to open on May 10 this year.
If this is the case, then it will cripple the small airport which will be forced to increase its charges to both airlines and passengers. In Brennan?s original plan, Dublin Airport was to have taken on the debt of Cork Airport.