Joe Gill: Aviation must be at the heart of any plan to reboot the economy

Given the importance of aviation to Irish businesses and families, the sector’s recovery should have been a top priority throughout the pandemic, and must be one now

Dublin Airport: air travel is the virtual motorway that allows the Irish diaspora to move freely

The aviation industry was throttled by Covid-19. The global impact on air travel was – and continues to be – severe, but Ireland was among the countries hit hardest.

As well as being a small, open economy, our island status means we depend heavily on worldwide connectivity and were uniquely vulnerable to the widespread severing of routes to Europe, North America and the Middle East.

Against that backdrop, you would expect an energetic and robust ...