Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan should raise the funding cap for regional airports to boost tourism and growth, Ryanair has said. Regional airports, including Knock and Kerry, qualify for the Department of Transport funding programme only while traffic remains below one million passengers a year. Ryanair argues that Mr Ryan should increase the limit to two million. The airline says the current cap blocks tourism and economic growth by giving airports no incentive to increase numbers past the one million limit. The Department of Transport recently said its regional airports programme met national aviation policy objectives, which pledge to increase international routes and maximise air travel’s contribution to growth. However, Ryanair said on Friday that the programme contradicts this policy as it bars growth at regional airports beyond one million passengers a year. The 32m-passenger-a-year cap at Dublin Airport, imposed by planners, compounds this, the airline added in a statement. Eddie Wilson, CE of Ryanair DAC, the group’s biggest carrier, declared that it was “astounding” that the Minister presided over the Dublin cap while also constraining regional airports. “It makes no sense that the regional airports are being penalised with the removal of exchequer funding for growing tourism and delivering economic benefit to the regions,” he argued.<br/>
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A pilot of a commercial plane has received treatment after becoming ill during a flight. Airline EasyJet confirmed a pilot fell unwell having left London Luton Airport at 07:35 BST and it arrived at General Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon, Portugal, at 10:10. The plane was met by paramedics upon landing. In a statement the company said: "The captain landed the flight routinely in line with procedures and passengers disembarked normally." It added: "At no point was the safety of the flight compromised. The safety and welfare of passengers and crew is EasyJet’s highest priority."<br/>
India’s largest airline IndiGo posted a 12% drop in its quarterly profit weighed down by slowing demand as well as surging engine-related and fuel costs. Analysts were expecting a steeper drop. Gurugram-based Interglobe Aviation Ltd.’s net income fell to 27.3b rupees ($326m) in the three months ended June 30, compared with a record 30.9b rupees a year earlier, IndiGo said in a statement Friday. While this is airline’s first profit decline in seven quarters, the profit still exceeded the average analyst estimate of 25.03b rupees based on data compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue rose 17% to 195.71b rupees from a year earlier, beating estimates. Total costs climbed 24% to 174.45b rupees and fuel costs increased 23%, while airfares for the airline remained flat amid weaker demand. Its passenger load factor fell to 86.7% from 88.6% in the same quarter last year. The carrier had benefited from insolvent Go Airlines India Ltd.’s grounding last year, which had bolstered its airfares and load factor. IndiGo sees capacity for the quarter ending Sept. 30 increasing by “high single digits” compared to a year ago, it said in a post-earnings release. The profit drop comes in a period of increased change for India’s airline industry. Air India, IndiGo’s biggest competitor, is in the middle of an ambitious merger with Tata and Singapore Airlines Ltd.-owned Vistara, to create an entity rivaling IndiGo.<br/>