KERRY AIRPORT IS planning to cut its workforce by almost a third. It said today that it is seeking 20 redundancies from its current staff of 65.

Labour’s Joe Costello is claiming that the “final straw” was the curtailment of the Public Service Obligation on the Dublin to Kerry route, as laid out in Budget 2011. He said in a statement to TheJournal.ie:

Already Michael O’Leary of Ryanair, who had operated the flights between Dublin and Kerry for the previous two years, pulled the plug and had reduced the daily flights to only one since October 2010. This caused serious timetabling problems for business trips and for connecting flights in particular. The reduction in passenger numbers in recent years has also been a significant problem for Kerry airport.

He called for the creation of a special task force to examine the future of regional airports in Ireland.

Kerry Airport chairmas Denis Cregan said today that the redundancies were necessary to secure the success of the airport in the medium term.