17 February 2008

Let's close Dublin Airport

There are no air traffic services at Dublin Airport between 11.30 p.m. on Saturday, February 16th and 6.30 a.m. on Sunday, February 17th due to the ongoing dispute between air traffic controllers and the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA). Thanks be to God! This is good news, and if the argument continues, we might reduce the number of flights even further. The Irish environment and the planet would be grateful.

In a statement the IAA said it expects that nine flights in and out of Dublin Airport will be affected by the dispute. However, there could be a knock-on effect to flights early in the morning as the schedule returns to normal. This latest disruption at Dublin Airport is because it cannot get anyone to fill in for an air traffic controller who has called in sick.
One overnight arrival and five early morning departures at Cork Airport were also delayed as a result of the dispute.
The IAA said last night's disruption - the second at the airport in 48 hours - was also because workers refused to cover the shift of a colleague who had called in sick.

If it were not such a sad show by the IAA, one could laugh out loud and see this as a joke. The whole airport of the capital city of an EU country - which also is supposed to be the second-richest country in the world - is coming to a standstill because one man calls in sick. Brilliant!
Someone should nominate the IAA for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award!

Maybe the IAA should close Dublin Airport, which hardly ever works "normal", even without a strike of the air traffic controllers, altogether and turn it into a huge golf course. This would be very popular with Ireland's many golfers, and it would at the same time drastically reduce emissions and pollution, as well as our carbon footprint. The air traffic controllers could be employed as caddies, and Fáilte Ireland could collect the membership fee. Welcome to Baile Átha Golf!

The Emerald Islander

2 comments:

Alexander "Sunny" Bergen said...

Something seems to be very wrong in the post-boom world of Ireland. What has happened to the self-sufficiency one could find on the Emerald Isle in the past? Did the Celtic Tiger devour all what was there of common sense?

THE EMERALD ISLANDER said...

Quite possible. Or maybe there was no tiger at all, and what we saw was not more than a kitten, watched through a Blarney magnifying glass...

Post a Comment