asked the Minister for Transport the reason for the curtailment of normal working hours at Cork Airport, which will affect a number of flights to Lourdes and Palma; and if they will be replaced by day flights from Cork.
191.
Written Answers. - Cork Airport.
190.
asked the Minister for Transport if there is a shortage of air traffic control staff at Cork; if certain flights have been transferred from Cork to Dublin; and if this is consistent with the intention to eliminate the deficit at Cork airport.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle. I propose to take Questions Nos. 190 and 191 together.
There has not been any curtailment of normal working hours at Cork Airport, nor is there any shortage of air traffic control personnel there. The airport operates on an 18-hour day and staffing levels are geared to operation on this basis. The existing Air Traffic Control complement is sufficient to provide a limited number of extended or all night openings at the airport.
I would refer the Deputy to the debate on the Adjournment in the Seanad on 18 June last in the course of which the Minister of State at my Department explained fully the background to the re-scheduling through Dublin of certain charter flights originally organised to operate this Summer from Cork to Palma and Lourdes. The charters in question, as originally scheduled, involved over 60 flights outside the published opening hours for the airport and my Department were not advised sufficiently in advance to permit arrangements to be made to provide air traffic control facilities outside normal hours. In view of the disruption and inconvenience which re-scheduling would involve for travellers, I arranged for my Department to carry out an exhaustive examination of all the options to see if anything could be done. However, I was advised that the maximum number of extensions that could be safely accommodated within the existing resources was four to five per month. An additional consideration was that, in the main, the charter series concerned involved only one aircraft on each of the nights for which extended opening hours were required and the cost of keeping the airport open for one extra flight would have been very difficult to justify.
During the current strike, Aer Lingus are not operating any charter flights out of Cork. When the situation returns to normal, the company plan to avail of the four to five extensions per month to facilitate the inclusive tour series between Cork and Malaga. The Cork-Palma and Cork-Lourdes series are being transferred to Dublin.
I am anxious that this situation should not recur and I have asked Aer Lingus and Aer Rianta to examine the position for 1981 and to make early proposals to my Department so as to give adequate time for consideration of the possible recruitment of extra Air Traffic Services personnel.