A double helping of Turkey

SHANNON Airport’s summer 2013 services got a boost with the announcement that Turkey holiday specialists WingsAbroad are to double their flights from the end of May.

Its charter flights to Turkey will now operate for the full summer season, beginning a month earlier than this year and continuing until late September.
This increase in services will see the number of seats available rise to 6,000 next year and comes on the back of an extremely successful first summer season at Shannon.
Commenting on the announcement, WingsAbroad managing director Tayfun Gokpinar said, “I am delighted with the success of our Shannon service to Bodrum this summer and due to the large support we received from the travel trade and our customers in the region, we have decided to extend our programme next summer, which will effectively double the number of flights and passengers that we operate at Shannon Airport.
“WingsAbroad has a large customer base in the Shannon and Munster region and to be able to offer our customers more flights is fantastic. We introduced the route this year and thanks to all the support received from our customers and Shannon Airport, we are now able to invest further in the Shannon market.”
Declan Power of aviation business development at Shannon Airport stated, “We have worked very closely with WingsAbroad this season to ensure the success of the service and we are delighted with this increase in capacity to a very popular destination.
“This extra sun destination capacity means customers can avoid the inconvenience and arduous trek associated with travelling from other airports.”
The weekly charter programme will offer holiday packages as well as a seat-only option for customers wishing to visit holiday properties.
Meanwhile, Shannon Airport has strengthened its ‘green’ credentials after achieving a new and improved carbon footprint rating under European aviation standards.
Shannon has achieved the ‘reduction’ accreditation level – the second of four standards under the Europe-wide airport carbon management certification programme.
The programme is the European standard for carbon management best practice and reduction at airports. It is the only independent and institutionally endorsed certification programme designed specifically for the airport business.
The programme was established three years ago and has four levels of accreditation mapping, reduction, optimisation and neutrality. Meeting the targets set by the two initial levels under this programme has seen the airport achieve a 10% reduction in emissions year on year over the 2010/11 period alone.
The reduction accreditation is a milestone for Shannon as it means the airport has not alone mapped all of the CO2 emissions sources under its direct control but also succeeded in reducing those CO2 emissions on a rolling three-year average.
Welcoming the enhanced accreditation, Shannon Airport director Mary Considine said, “Sustainability is very much what we are about at Shannon, not least in the environmental area and achieving the second of four European standards in the space of just three years reaffirms that commitment.”