Aer Rianta has yet to receive a proposal from Aeroflot on its plan to create a new Ireland-based airline, which it is believed would operate from Shannon Airport.

Mr Boris Krivchenko, the Aeroflot manager for Britain and Ireland, was quoted as saying in the Russian daily Vedomosti, that the board of the Russian airline would examine plans for the new airline in the next two months and that the new carrier could be created within one-and-a-half years if plans were approved.

However, a spokesman for Aer Rianta Shannon said no formal approach had been made. "We would welcome any new service that Aeroflot might either base or operate through Shannon," he said.