Ryanair want public money for new routes

"Ryanair is calling on the Scottish Government to further subsidise air travel. Ryanair deputy chief executive Michael Cawley has met with Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney today to ask for the Air Route Development Fund (ARDF) to be reintroduced, or for a similar fund to be set up. The ARDF, which provides financial support to airlines setting up new flight routes, and was scrapped by the SNP in 2007 as part of an agreement with the Scottish Greens to switch the funding to public transport instead. The Green Party called the move a, 'shameless bid for a bung from the taxpayer'. 'Any reversal of that decision would put the Scottish Government in the pocket of Ryanair and would make a mockery of Scotland's recently-agreed climate change targets,' said Scottish Green Party MSP Patrick Harvie."