THE MINISTER for Transport Noel Dempsey yesterday said the subsidised Kerry to Dublin flights being discontinued by Ryanair were available, and the Minister strongly hinted that Aer Arann, should apply to fill “the vacancy”.

Mr Dempsey also made a strong attack on Ryanair’s model Europe-wide in which he said the airline “squeezed” regional airports and squeezed competition out. He speculated that its approach in tendering for the Kerry public service obligation (PSO) had been “predatory” in the first place and they had got their sums wrong.

Aer Arann, which operates a number of other PSO routes between Dublin and other regional airports, had operated the routes from Kerry until undercut by Ryanair when they were last tendered for.

Aer Arann is in examinership having lost about €6 million for each of the last three years. At least 14 groups have expressed interest in investing in the airline which also operates regional routes on behalf of Aer Lingus.

Mr Dempsey said it was Ryanair’s “unilateral decision” to pull out of Kerry. He said the press statement issued by the airline announcing it was pulling out of the PSO scheme was “incorrect, inaccurate and untruthful”.

Mr Dempsey was speaking yesterday on Radio Kerry in the aftermath of Ryanair’s announcement on Thursday that it would no longer operate the PSO flights out of Kerry, but would operate one return flight a day, from October 31st, on a commercial basis.

In a statement yesterday Ryanair pointed to the increase in charges imposed on the route including a €4 tax on return tickets, a 40 per cent increase in airport fees and a 25 per cent increase in Irish Aviation Authority charges.

It pointed to a clause in its contract which required the Minister to have due regard when setting compensation to developments impacting the cost of operation which “could not have been anticipated by the company”.

Ryanair took over the PSO Kerry to Dublin route in 2008 with a tender which required a subsidy of €1.75 million. Aer Arann had been operating the route at a subsidy of over €3 million. The contract runs until July 2011.

Mr Dempsey said: “Ryanair contracted for this PSO and from what I can see either they got their bid hopelessly wrong or they made a predatory bid and under the PSO contract now can’t [fulfil] it. They got their sums wrong. It’s either one or the other. But typical Ryanair, they decide they’ll blame everyone else except themselves.”