Early resumption of transatlantic flights

AMERICAN tourism has been important to Clare’s economy for decades, particularly as the county benefited from the Shannon stopover from 1945 to 2008.
While the loss of the stopover has inevitably resulted in the loss of some business, there have been some positive signs in the last few months with the resumption of Philadelphia and Chicago services announced. This week, Aer Lingus resumed its transatlantic services for the summer season at an earlier stage than has been done in recent years.
While much has been made about the importance of Ryanair business to Shannon, traditionally, US tourists are far higher spenders than Europeans and getting business from America has the potential to deliver greater benefits to the tourism sector.
This week, Lahinch-based hotelier Michael Vaughan, who is president of the Irish Hotels’ Federation, welcomed the early resumption of Aer Lingus’ services and said there are hopes Aer Lingus will make itself more competitive on the Shannon-US routes.
“We are delighted they are extending the time. They serve what have been exceptionally good routes over the years. I would also hope they would follow the example of other airlines by using the 757 aircraft, which could offer more opportunities. We have been saying for years that Aer Lingus shouldn’t ignore the success that other airlines have had with 757s in the past and hopefully, they will review it.”
He says the 757s are ideal for transatlantic routes from Shannon. “They’ve less capacity but it’s a much more fuel-efficient aircraft and it’d be the same type of plane that Delta and Continental use on their routes. It’s always been said in aviation circles that the transatlantic routes from Shannon were ‘757 heaven’. In other words, if you were using a 757 on the route, you were making money on it.”
In a statement this week, Aer Lingus said it hasn’t made any decision on the future use of 757s as yet. “Regarding the aircraft being used on our Shannon-US routes this year; there is no difference to last year. We are using Airbus A330s.
“In relation to the acquisition of 757 aircraft; this is just one of a number of business cases currently under review. Like all dynamic businesses, we evaluate multiple business cases and commercial opportunities all of the time. Our transatlantic schedule for 2014 will not be finalised until June of this year, at the earliest. No decision has been made at this point in time.”