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10th May 2016

Bernie Sanders has slammed plans for flights from Cork to Boston

Carl Kinsella

First Donald Trump says he’ll end the J1 visa programme, then Ted Cruz says he’ll deport Irish illegal immigrants, now this…

We’re starting to feel like the most recent crop of presidential hopefuls don’t share the same obsequious attitude towards Ireland as their predecessors.

Bernie Sanders has torn into Norwegian Air International’s plans to operate a transatlantic route from Cork to Boston, Massachusetts, saying that it would serve ” to undercut the wages and benefits of airline workers throughout this country [America].”

Sanders, who has been challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination to presidential candidacy, is vehemently pro-union and believes that NAI flights from Cork to Boston would constitute “a global race to the bottom in the global airline industry.”

Niall McCarthy, managing director of Cork Airport, takes a dim view of Sanders’ argument, telling the Evening Echo: “At this stage the delay has gone on too long and we are calling for the granting of the licence and for supporters of transatlantic services from Cork to make their views known on the US Department of Transportation.”

The bid has been ongoing for over two years.

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