Conor McCarthy believes that Ireland “lucked out” when it came to aviation. Yes, the country has produced a number of trailblazers and corporate titans in the sector. But McCarthy argues that Ireland was also in the right place at the right time on multiple occasions. “We have had a series of happy accidents,” McCarthy says, ranging from the strategic location of Shannon for trans-Atlantic flights to the fact that both the aviation industry and the Irish state were born in the same period. McCarthy has worked in the sector all his life. He was a senior executive at Aer Lingus,…