Cathaoirleach Éirígí Brian Leeson has called for the re-nationalisation of Aer Lingus as part of wider strategy to slow the spread of Covid 19, to protect jobs and to secure critical transport routes. His call came as Aer Lingus was reported to be considering mass redundancies and the closing of operations in Shannon and Cork. Speaking from Dublin Leeson said,
“The decision to privatise Aer Lingus must rank among the worst of the very many bad decisions that successive governments have made over the last twenty years. To leave an island nation with no publicly controlled airline was a short-sighted act of gross political and economic stupidity.
Covid-19 has exposed the contradictions of allowing private, profit-driven companies to control air access to the country. On the one hand we have the state urging people to avoid all but essential travel to slow the spread of Covid-19. And on the other hand we have airlines like Ryanair and Aer Lingus trying their best to fill as many planes as possible. The conflict between public health and private profit couldn’t be clearer.
This is the third major crisis to hit the international airline sector in less than twenty years. It’s abundantly clear that airlines are extremely vulnerable when it comes to war, terrorism, natural disasters, recessions, pandemics and other global shocks. It’s also clear that governments have little choice but to bail out the airlines because of the strategic importance of air travel in the modern world.
Covid-19 isn’t going to be the last crisis to hit air travel, so it makes sense to plan on that basis. Éirígí is, therefore, calling on the Dublin government to open negotiations with IAG with a view to bringing Aer LIngus back into permanent public ownership. It’s time to make Aer Lingus ours again.
Re-nationalising Aer Lingus would protect thousands of Irish jobs and protect the strategically important flights that operate out of Dublin, Shannon and Cork. It would also allow the state to directly align the flow of passengers into the country with the public health strategy to control the spread of Covid-19.”