Tag Archives: Aer Rianta International

ON Monday night, Leicester City finally won an unlikely Premier League title and there is a slight Clare link to the story. The club’s chief executive, Susan Whelan, once worked for Shannon-based Aer Rianta International (ARI), going on to work in its stores in Russia and Thailand, before becoming involved with the new Premier League champions. Former director of Shannon Airport, Liam Skelly was also first director general of ARI and the Scariff resident remembers the Dublin woman’s time with the company. “ARI was operated in Shannon so she came there and then went to Moscow and worked there. Eventually, we got a contract to operate Duty Free in Thailand and she went out there. She was a buyer for perfumes and that,” he explained. After ARI finished business in Thailand, Ms Whelan left the company. “Our contract ended and Susan decided to stay on. The King Powers are from Thailand. King Powers got the contract in the airport in …

“THE greatest con job of all time” is how Liam Skelly describes the decision to leave Aer Rianta International (ARI) with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) as part of the process that preceded Shannon becoming an independent airport. A Tipperary man domiciled in Scariff, the former airport director says Shannon, and indeed Cork, were plundered with hundreds of millions going unfairly to the capital, even leaving aside what happened with ARI. “According to EU and Irish accounting law if you want to separate a bit of your business from the main business, the main business must have indistribuble assets, which is money, of what has been taken away. The Minister said we’re taking Shannon away first, the asset value of Shannon is 70 million so Aer Rianta must be left with 70 million in cash. How do you get that? You sell assets, other assets. As regards Cork, because there was a new terminal, they said Cork’s asset value was …