Aer Lingus Regional to suspend Shannon-Bristol service this winter

THE Aer Lingus Regional service from Shannon to Bristol is to be suspended from the end of next month.

 

According to Aer Arann, the airline which operates the route as part of a franchise arrangement with Aer Lingus, there isn’t enough business to continue it during the winter.

Aer Arann’s interim chief executive Sean Brogan said there weren’t enough people travelling on the route during the winter season. “Aer Lingus Regional has a strong presence in Shannon Airport and we remain fully committed to our Shannon base. Our experience shows us that the Shannon-Bristol service is a seasonal route that is reasonably busy in summer but less busy in winter when fewer people travel.”

He stressed that overall, the airline is happy with how its business from Shannon has progressed. “We are focused on developing our additional Aer Lingus Regional services from Shannon, which include double daily services to Manchester – ideal for the business and leisure passenger. Our Shannon-Birmingham services will see the introduction of new and improved afternoon timings for the winter season, while our Shannon-Edinburgh service continues to be very popular.”

A spokesperson for Shannon Airport said that while the loss of the service was regrettable, overall Aer Lingus Regional is doing well at Shannon. “While the withdrawal of the service is disappointing, Aer Lingus Regional services at Shannon have proven very successful overall. We are supporting the airline on their other routes, which include the popular Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh services and their new Rennes summer service and are also actively engaged with them with a view to developing other possible options going forward.

“We have a wide range of successful services throughout the winter season but the winter schedule is, of course, more challenging. We are actively engaged in discussions with all potential carriers in relation to Bristol and, indeed, other locations for the 2012 and 2013 winter schedules.”
Aer Lingus Regional has one aircraft and around 30 staff based at Shannon.

The route to Bristol was one of the first routes announced when Aer Lingus Regional began operating from Shannon in 2008. There was also a Ryanair route to Bristol, which was culled when the low-fares airline drastically cut its services from Shannon spring of 2010.

The Shannon-Rennes Aer Lingus Regional service will also be suspended for the winter season from the start of September, however, this was only ever intended to be a seasonal route and its suspension is no surprise.

When the Bristol route was originally launched the then chief executive of Aer Arann Paul Schtz said it had a lot of potential. “Bristol’s catchment area is quite large, it extended into Wales and up to Birmingham. There are about six million people in the catchment area and there has been a lot of demand for the route in the past,” he said.