Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Hodges. I have a certain amount of sympathy with them from a commercial standpoint, as it seems on the face of it that if the deal goes through they will be adversely affected in terms of passenger numbers. I am sure the witnesses are aware that Aer Lingus indicated that it was to purchase two new long-haul aircraft, one of which would be used to create a direct Dublin to Los Angeles connection. It will certainly happen if the takeover goes through.

An element of the proposed takeover that has not been touched on by anyone is the attractiveness of Dublin as a hub because of US immigration pre-clearance, which is unique to these islands in western Europe. It is a big pull factor. Does Mr. Thompson agree that, in the event of an IAG takeover, there will be a considerable focus by IAG on ensuring that Dublin is developed as a hub, taking more passengers out of the UK mainland airports, which may have a knock-on effect on Virgin Atlantic Airlines' services out of Manchester, and that inevitably it will boost its transatlantic services because there will be no point in taking over Aer Lingus to maintain the status quo? It will heavily market Dublin, according to what it is saying. That is at the core of where Mr. Thompson's concerns are. It will directly affect passenger numbers currently coming out of Ireland, which is a difficulty for all of us here. One of the attractions of the takeover is that more people, at least in theory, will come into Ireland than leave it to connect because there is an enhanced service out of Dublin as an international hub for transatlantic flights. From a tourism and economic point of view, that has great attraction for us. Anything that reduces the number of people leaving the country to connect in the UK is of advantage to us. That is why I am focusing on what Virgin Atlantic Airlines has raised about the number of passengers coming out of Ireland. Does Mr. Thompson agree that the core of his concerns is the loss of business? I agree with Mr. Thompson that where there has been consolidation in the airline business, not just with BMI and British Airways, there has unquestionably been a reduction in route choice and an increase in air fares. What I cannot understand, going back to what my colleague Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice said, is why Virgin Atlantic Airlines has not considered moving a transatlantic service out of Dublin. Inevitably, what will happen is that British Airways, the main competitor of Virgin Atlantic Airlines on international long-haul routes out of the UK, will hit the business of Virgin Atlantic Airlines. It will do so severely because of the advantage of a developing hub for international and long-haul transatlantic traffic out of Dublin and the immigration pre-clearance facility, which will be well marketed in the UK. It will be a major pull factor. This is the context in which I will put questions.

There is nothing wrong with Virgin Atlantic Airlines coming to say that this will damage its business. I was surprised to hear Mr. Thompson say he was agnostic about this because, if I was in his shoes, I would not be agnostic but totally against it.