Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As we all know, aviation is one of the sectors worst affected by the pandemic. Many airlines have experienced a severe drop in revenue and are facing degrees of financial challenge. The aviation recovery in Ireland has been much slower than in other states. We are back to about 50% of where we were. As the Deputy outlined, Ryanair, which operates all across Europe, points out that the rest of Europe is about 70% back to where it was. Aer Lingus in particular has been affected to a larger extent than other airlines due to its reliance on the slow-recovering Irish market and the transatlantic market. Data show that the Irish aviation market is experiencing a slower recovery than the majority of its European counterparts. In addition, Aer Lingus's transatlantic network has yet to recover to any great extent due to the travel restrictions that remain in place in the United States.

The announcement made by the US Government that it is going to lift travel restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers from Ireland, the UK and the rest of Europe in November is therefore a very welcome development and should help us to begin the recovery in transatlantic services. It will be very welcome for families, many of whom have not seen friends and relations in the United States for a long time, and for business too because there is so much trade between the United States and Ireland and so many people have not been able to visit their businesses or co-workers.

On the industrial relations matters the Deputy raises, he will be aware that these are matters for the company, Aer Lingus, and its respective trade unions. Both the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court, which are Government offices under the aegis of my Department, are available to assist if called upon. We want to make clear to the company and to the unions that the WRC and the Labour Court are available should their services be needed and should Government intervention be warranted.

In terms of the Deputy's question on connectivity, nobody can give him any guarantees on that. It is quite simple: connectivity happens when a route is viable, when the cost of running the aeroplane is matched by the fares that passengers pay. What we need to do now is to make flights viable in order that we can have connectivity. The Government will help with this. We are working on a package of financial support for airlines and airports to encourage them to restore those routes. We need to do what other governments across Europe are doing to make sure that the aeroplanes that are flying again are flying in and out of Ireland and that we restore that connectivity. Fundamentally, a route is only viable if the cost of running it is matched by the fares that come in. One needs to have fares coming in and one needs to keep costs under control.

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