sawtooth....nice reply, not intended as criticism, and you have put points forward very well. Points are, it is well known that Tourism Ireland put nearly €2m in to last year's US services. The state announced infrastructure grants last year worth over €20m, and up until then gave in the region of 750k marketing support annually, and have effectively bankrolled NOC since inception, that is why the state have such an influence in its affairs, in that every capex expenditure must go through the same procurement process as the state does. The infrastructure as stated already is in place to support US routes - at SNN. On route incentives NOC must submit their subvention programme to the Dept. for approval, as all other Irish regionals do. Mr Scallon projected at the launch of the US services that the services would bring 35k inbound pax with a spend of €28m to the West region, that makes 70k in total, that was a load factor in excess of 100%, in the end the figures were half his projections at a very low yield, it's not just numbers. With regard to LGW why allow competition, because at the end of the day you were left with no LGW service. There is no doubt there is a catchment area, but it's a very very small one, NOC has done well in recent years, but it's too overstated and opinionated, Mr Scallon was on national TV and issuing press releases over the EI SNN/LHR issue, why? Don't get me wrong I wish it well, but more substance please, too many failed starts!