A leading Canadian airport executive, who presided over the break-up of the Canadian airport system, said such an approach would work in other markets and usually benefits smaller airports like Shannon and Cork.

Mr Louis Turpen, president and chief executive of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, said that giving independence to smaller airports allowed them to shape their destinies. They could set their own airport charges and deal with airlines on their own terms, he said.

However, he said labouring independent airports with debt from past commercial operations was not a good idea. "The best way is to leave them debt free, because otherwise passengers will have to pay in the form of extra charges and fees. The Government should take the debt."

But he emphasised that he did not want to comment directly on proposals in the Republic and did not want to be "insensitive".

Mr Turpen, who is due in the Republic at the end of the month for a Shannon Development conference, told The Irish Times that jobs were often created following the break-up of airport groups into constituent operations.

He said that when a large airport structure was broken up and smaller airports were given autonomy, the key task was for local airports to find new markets.

"You have to build for what you are. There is no point in building a huge airport with endless terminals if you don't have the traffic to match," he said.

He said local airport managements needed to ask themselves a crucial question: do people have to stop here?

"They have to ask themselves: 'Does my airport offer a geographic advantage'," he said.

He said that, in the Canadian model, Toronto airport subsidised virtually every other Canadian airport, but the break-up ended this and gave the smaller airports a new direction.

"The other airports were then free to set their own rates and charges. They were able to come up with their own strategies if demand was thin."

He said that, in some cases, local communities and the managements running local airports would agree to subsidise certain routes for a time, while in other cases incentives were offered to airlines.

"Local airports must partner with the local community to grow traffic. You need to create reasons for people to come. Not the other way around."

He said the Canadian experience was "outstanding" and Canadian airports were "modern, clean, safe and forward looking".

He said the break-up process was not without challenges - sometimes facilities had to be mothballed and sometimes staff had to be re-trained - but overall job numbers increased after the break-up in Canada.