Aer Lingus abandons cargo business

BY ROBBIE SMYTH

Apart from ignoring the views of their own workers, Aer Lingus management have taken another drastic step in the needless downsizing of the company. The airline is to stop all shorthaul cargo services from Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports in 2005.

As predicted in An Phoblacht a few weeks ago, Aer Lingus' new strategy of being a low cost carrier in reality means surrendering any notion of being an airline that is a national resource. In an island economy where the movement of goods on and off the island is an economic imperative, the Aer Lingus decision is bizarre.

The reason behind the move, according to Aer Lingus, is that their new fleet of Airbus 320s have less room for cargo and more passenger space.