MINISTER FOR Transport Noel Dempsey has deferred plans to separate Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports but signalled that they will eventually be given their independence of each other.

The Minister yesterday put the separation on ice until 2011.

This means the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) will continue to have responsibility for Cork and Shannon, although both will have a degree of operational freedom.

"Having considered the business plans submitted by the three airport authorities, I have accepted their view that it would be best to defer the separation of the three airports until 2011 given the current very difficult aviation market," the Minister said.

The chairmen of the three airports would hold talks "to ensure that appropriate governance arrangements are in place in the period before eventual separation", he said.

The aim was to allow Cork and Shannon to operate "under a commercial mandate at local level".

It is understood that all three airport authorities asked that separation be deferred. While Cork is profitable, Shannon is believed to be loss-making at present.

Passenger numbers at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports have declined in recent months.

This is due to a falloff in consumer demand, a 3 per cent reduction in tourist numbers, and decisions by airlines to either axe or curtail flights from Ireland.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Shannon airport director Martin Moroney said it would handle about 3.3 million passengers this year, a 12 per cent decline on 2007.

This, in part, reflects the ending of Aer Lingus's services to Heathrow and a 23 per cent cut in transatlantic traffic.

In a statement, Shannon Airport Authority chairman Pat Shanahan said: "The board of Shannon Airport Authority still views separation as in the best interest of the airport and is fully committed to that end."