Preclearance agenda pushed in France

Clare Fine Gael TD, Pat Breen, has brought the promotion of Shannon’s unique US pre-inspection station to the top level of the dual national carrier Air France-KLM.
Deputy Breen had a face-to-face interview with the chief executive, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, as part of his round of consultations with top aviation interests in the preparation of an EU-wide review of air transport, which he is finalising for the Council of Europe. He also took advantage of the discussion to sound out the head of the airline multinational on the prospects for a return to the Shannon-Paris route by the Air France subsidiary City Jet and to float a possible merger with Aer Lingus.
With a wide sweep of transatlantic services, the Air France-KLM chief executive was already aware of the advantages of the US pre-inspection at Shannon. He heads a powerful European presence on world air routes. Besides the merged national carriers of France and the Netherlands, the multinational giant spreads its wings to Italy with a 25% stake in the flag carrier Alitalia airline, has subsidiary airlines operating on short-haul routes and is linked with Delta Airlines in a transatlantic joint venture.
Monsieur Gourgeon told Deputy Breen that he had already looked at the possibility of following the example of British Airways and operating an all-business class transatlantic service with the added advantage of advance clearance into the United States. However, because London had superior advantages in terms of its central location in a world financial services hub, Air France decided not to run with the concept.
In what he described as “a very useful and informative” meeting, Deputy Breen urged Monsieur Gourgeon to restore the Shannon/Paris service operated by the Air France subsidiary, City Jet, which was profitable and successful when attracted to Shannon after Aer Lingus pulled off the Shannon-Heathrow route.
“The Irish aviation sector has great potential for an airline like Air France/KLM. In particular, Shannon’s preclearance facility for US-bound flights is a great commercial opportunity for any airline.
“British Airways is enjoying great success with its London City to New York service. This service stops twice daily at Shannon Airport in order to clear US Customs and Immigration. I believe a similar opportunity exists for Air France on its route from Paris Charles de Gaulle to New York.
“I also suggested that CityJet, the Air France subsidiary, should reintroduce its profitable and successful service from Shannon to Paris,” he said.
Mr Breen claimed that co-operation between Shannon and Air France would have advantages for both.
“A stronger relationship between Shannon Airport and Air France could benefit both parties. Shannon itself is facing serious challenges. Ryanair is due to axe 18 destinations, while Aer Lingus is conducting a review of its services and is threatening to axe its maintenance base with the loss of 70 jobs. I am also concerned that Aer Lingus may cut back on its transatlantic services from Shannon. That is why I believe Air France offers many opportunities for the airport and the region.”
While he had been initially very pleased with the success of the City Jet service, Monsieur Gourgeon said that an unfortunate decision had been made to increase the size of the aircraft on the route in the middle of a recession. However, he assured Deputy Breen that he would reconsider this route again when the aviation sector comes out of recession.
In his observations to Deputy Breen, the airline chief executive predicted that only three airlines would survive in Europe in the coming years and that the future for small airlines was “very bleak”. On that count, he said that the future for Aer Lingus lay in code sharing or a merger with a larger airline. He felt that British Airways was the natural partner but indicated that Air France would be favourably disposed to developing a partnership with Aer Lingus, once the airline returns to profits.
Now in the process of finalising his report to the Council of Europe plenary session at the end of next month, while in Paris Deputy Breen also held discussions with Peter Kirk, executive secretary of the European Civil Aviation Conference.