Madam, - Paul Sweeney (Opinion, July 16th) misses the point when he attempts to defend the status quo at Aer Rianta on grounds of profitability.
Any organisation that has an effective monopoly of air access to Ireland is going to make profits. The problem for the Irish people is that Aer Rianta is not interested in providing value for money and indeed seems completely disconnected from financial reality.
It is abundantly clear to anyone who travels frequently that full-service airlines are a dying breed. Yet the State airport operator has made it clear that it has no interest in meeting the needs of the low-cost operators that will make up 80 per cent of traffic within a decade.
Aer Rianta also has an aversion to independently operated terminals. Anyone who has made such a proposal has not only run into a brick wall of opposition but will also have been the subject of media abuse from employees of the State airport authority. By any rational standard Aer Rianta is a failed organisational entity and needs to be replaced. - Yours, etc.,
DAVID ROLFE, Rathmines, Dublin 6.