Issues

‘Irregular’ flight pattern

As Dublin Airport continues to thrive as a hub for international travel, including regular flights to North America, Europe and the Middle East, the economic viability of a multi-million financial package to support Northern Ireland’s only transatlantic flight has been called into question.

An appearance by Northern Ireland’s Auditor General Kieran Donnelly at September’s Public Accounts Committee has thrown fresh focus on the £9 million support package offered by Stormont to United Airlines to maintain their Belfast International to Newark flight.

The deal, which sees the operator get £3 million annually for three years (the majority of which will be paid from the Department for the Economy’s budget), and described as “irregular” by Donnelly, brings into sharper context the uniqueness that the island of Ireland finds itself in, running two international airports roughly 100 miles from each other.
Over the summer it was revealed that the Office of First Minister and deputy First Minister (OFMdFM) had used emergency procedure to supply the deal, amidst a threat of losing Northern Ireland’s only transatlantic link. As the Assembly was in recess, the package by-passed approval from the Executive and was instead brought to and approved by OFMdFM.

Speaking at the Public Accounts Committee, Donnelly points out: “The decision was based on loss it [the airline] sustained due to a lack of business class customers but also [on] the opportunity for the aircraft to be used on a more profitable route. So it’s not just to cover losses, it’s actually to cover what the airline could make by using the aircraft somewhere else.”

It was also revealed that the Department for the Economy’s Permanent Secretary was unable to recommend the provision of assistance on irregularity grounds. Donnelly adds: “As it had not secured the normal financial approvals and was unlikely it would be improved in any conventional context.”

Donnelly also emphasised strongly United Airlines rejection on any monitoring of the need for a grant, describing it as “most unusual”.

Using a hypothetical situation to highlight this he explains: “If our economy really lifts and the line does much better than anybody really anticipated, is there still a subsidy to be payed? There are question marks around this. I will keep it under review and I will be required to audit the subsequent expenditure in future accounts.”

Describing the deal as “madness”, MLA Trevor Lunn was amongst the Committee who agreed to write to the Executive Office to establish “the political rationale” for the aid decision.

The transatlantic route already benefits from a subsidy of £2 million a year after the Executive scrapped Air Passenger Duty on long haul flights in 2011.

Green Party MLA Steven Agnew accused the Executive of “propping-up a vanity project”.
“It is effectively taxpayers propping-up a vanity project while there are alternative flights to north America available from Dublin,” he says. “To claim that we need this route in order to save some US investor a two or three hour car journey is ridiculous. In the States people would think nothing of driving that kind of distance to catch a flight.”

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