The current airline troubles may have improved Ireland's position as a logistics hub for the European market, a leading logistics expert said yesterday. Speaking at the Logistics Ireland annual conference, Mr Richard Hunt, president of the Institute of Logistics and Transport in the UK, said the Far East logistics hubs of Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea, against which Ireland competes, rely on long-haul transport, particularly airline transport, to service their worldwide markets and this is suffering following the September 11th attacks.