Aer Lingus launch Shannon-Gatwick route

THERE was a good start to 2011 for Shannon Airport, with an announcement on Wednesday that Aer Lingus is to commence a new daily service to London Gatwick.
This follows a pre-Christmas announcement by Ryanair of a new Fuerteventura route, while the low cost airline is reinstate routes to Nantes, Malaga and Palma-Mallorca from April. Also in December Aer Lingus commenced a new Shannon-Paris Charles De Gaulle service.
Speaking about the new Gatwick service, Aer Lingus spokesman Declan Kearney said the options available to customers were being increased. “This new daily service will provide Aer Lingus customers with the first early morning from London to the Shannon region. It will complement the existing London-Heathrow service, which operates three times daily.”
Gatwick airport is Britain’s second largest airport and it’s the busiest single-runway airport in the world. It serves more than 200 destinations in 90 countries for around 33 million passengers a year. It is 28 miles south of London and is well served by public transport, including the Gatwick express rail link.
The Gatwick-Shannon flight will leave at 6.50am and arrive in Shannon at 8.15am. The return flight from Shannon will depart at 9am and arrive in Gatwick at 10.25am.
Shannon Airport director Mary Considine said a lot of work had gone into arranging the new route. “For Aer Lingus to add Gatwick, not least with its early arrival time at Shannon, to its growing network of services is a real boost for us and, indeed, the greater West of Ireland region.”

“We have no doubt that 2011 will bring challenges but we have started the year where we left off last year. Despite 2010 being probably the toughest year for aviation globally for a long time, we finished very much on the upward curve, with the commencement of a new Aer Lingus Paris Charles de Gaulle service plus a 60% increase in Aer Lingus Regional’s Manchester services at the end of October.
“In addition, we were delighted to see Ryanair last month announce the establishment of a new Fuerteventura service from February as well as reinstating Nantes, Malaga and Palma-Mallorca services. On top of all this, we also have the new incentive scheme launched by the DAA in December for all three state airports, which will see passenger charges waived once an overall threshold for the airports of 23.5 million passengers is reached. We believe that this will be a key incentive for airlines to expand their services and this can only be good for Shannon and, indeed, for the region if targets are reached.”
Shannon Airport Authority chairman Brian O’Connell also sounded a positive note. “The last quarter has again shown Shannon Airport’s resilience despite the difficult economic climate. It is clear that airlines continue to recognise the strong market there is for services at Shannon Airport and it is extremely encouraging to see us starting off 2011 in the same vein as we finished 2010, which is very much on the up.”
Mayor of Shannon Tony Mulcahy welcomed the news, which he said was a triumph for Shannon’s marketing team.
While he welcomed the development, Deputy Pat Breen said that it is important Aer Lingus restore some long haul services. “Increasing capacity from Shannon Airport to Gatwick is a very welcome development particularly for the business community here in the Mid-West Region. There is potential to attract a greater number of visitors from the UK to Ireland and Gatwick is also a hub Airport with many tourists travelling in and out of Gatwick Airport from Europe. We should be aiming to encourage a percentage of these tourists to visit the Shannon Region.
“As well as committing to their short-haul network out of Shannon, I would have liked see Aer Lingus give a clear indication on the future of their long-haul operations out of the Airport. The opening of T2 at Dublin Airport and the availability of US Pre Clearance facility in this Terminal poses huge challenges for Shannon Airport in sustaining their transatlantic network. That is why, I am so disappointed that the Shamrock will not be taking off from Shannon Airport for St. Patrick’s Day this year and that the airline has chosen to suspend their transatlantic services all together for the first three months of the year.”