Ryanair supports PSO withdrawals

Ryanair announced (12-Jun-2011) the new government policy of ceasing the provision of subsidies to Galway and Sligo airports is the "correct policy for Irish aviation and should be supplemented by the withdrawal of all PSO subsidies which have supported uneconomic and unviable domestic routes to Dublin which can no longer be justified given the recent improvements in motorway and train connections to the capital [Dublin]." The LCC stated that more than EUR80 million of taxpayer funds has been "wasted" on PSO subsidies for Galway and Sligo since 2002, with an average subsidy of EUR55 per passengers for the 80 daily return passengers on the Galway-Dublin route and EUR87 per passengers for the less-than-50 daily return passengers on the Sligo-Dublin route. Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said the airline would also support the axing of PSO subsidies on routes from Dublin to Donegal and Kerry, "despite the fact that we have received the subsidies on the Dublin-Kerry route for the past three years". [more]