Aer Lingus faces 'lack of leadership'

The chairwoman of Fáilte Ireland has called for a speedy resolution to the management crisis at Aer Lingus.

Ms Gillian Bowler said that, while she did not want to take away from the contribution certain people had made to the airline, "the truth is that businesses are always larger than individuals". Highlighting the important role of air access to the tourism industry, she said, "there is a lack of leadership at the moment in Aer Lingus and it needs to be addressed quickly".

Ms Bowler was speaking in Dublin yesterday at the recently-formed Business Tourism Forum (BTF), at which calls were made for the retention of business class air access to Ireland.

A number of other issues were said to be holding back the expansion of business tourism, including difficulties in making group bookings through Irish airlines, the absence of a second terminal at Dublin Airport and infrastructural deficits, especially the lack of progress on the construction of a national conference centre. Addressing the 150 delegates, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, said he was committed to ensuring the contract for the national conference centre would be awarded by summer 2005.

Mr Peter Malone, chairman of the BTF, which was set up by Fáilte Ireland last July, said it hoped the centre would be open by June 2008. Mr Malone added that as well as the retention of business class air access, industry representatives were keen to preserve interlining of luggage between airlines.

"Because we are an island destination, many international business people fly to Ireland from larger hub airports. They have no desire to collect and carry luggage through connecting airports."

The Dublin Chamber of Commerce criticised the delay in awarding the national conference centre tender, saying more than €50 million a year was being lost to the economy each year by the absence of such a facility.