Aer Rianta is in talks with Go, British Airways' low-fares airline and Easyjet, another UK budget operator, to open up new routes from the Republic.
The State airports authority has indicated that special incentives would be available to the UK operators should they choose to provide services to new destinations.
The talks concern routes from Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports. If an operator chooses to open a new route from Cork or Shannon airports, the authority would let it operate free of landing charges for three years.
In relation to Dublin Airport, the incentive would be a 75 per cent rebate on landing charges for three years for a new route.
A new route means a new destination and not flights to a different airport in a destination already serviced, such as London.
Nothing has been agreed between the parties. Any new arrival would mean increased competition for Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost operator. "We welcome them (Go and Easyjet) into Dublin, Shannon or Cork," said a spokesman for Aer Rianta. "We would be interested in having another low-cost carrier in Dublin and in bringing either of them into Cork as well if we could."
The authority would also welcome either of the airlines getting involved in flying to destinations already being serviced from its airports.
"If they decided they could get a slice of the London route then we'd be happy with that also and would encourage them."
Buzz, a low-cost airline run by KLM, is believed to be looking at the Irish market.
