Sir, - From time to time your correspondents write some daft letters to you; none more so, in my view, in recent times than Mr McDonagh of Galway (August 27th). Although headed "the future of Aer Lingus" it consisted almost entirely of a diatribe against "previous management, which over the years could only develop route networks westward, not eastward". I doubt if Aer Lingus will bother to reply, certainly the letter does not warrant waste of an executive's time. But, if I may, as one of the previous management (albeit in a modest way) now retired with time on hand, I would like to demolish Mr McDonagh's charges, lest they go by default.
Mr McDonagh probably cannot recall the pride mixed with apprehension, with which we launched services to Paris (1946), Amsterdam (1947), Dusseldorf, Zurich, Rome and Lourdes before a service to the US was inaugurated. And wasn't Copenhagen brave in 1959?
Then he trots out the usual "Aer Lingus has cost the taxpayer dearly through subsidies". Rubbish! It is a fact that up to the day I retired, right back from the start in 1936, the shareholder (the taxpayer if you like) did not invest enough in Aer Lingus to buy one Jumbo Jet. And for that they got an enormous return, in terms of the tourist industry, business generally, and tax. He misread the bit about the belated capital investment, incorrectly referred to as "State Aid".
Oh, and of course "the monopoly helped to protect inefficiency." Well I can tell you that many people in the old PanAm, TWA and many UK and Continental airlines did not see Aer Lingus as a monopoly. In the context of the times, we beat them for market share by a superior service (the "Friendly Airline").
Of course the circumstances are different now and airlines are no longer the public utility they once were. You, sir, would not allow me enough space to air my views on the future. But I cannot allow to go unchallenged such a slur on "previous management", the people who built an undertaking of which Irish people everywhere were justly proud. - Yours, etc., W. J. MURPHY,
Malahide, Co. Dublin.