Shannon commercial traffic in free-fall

COMMERCIAL traffic movements through Shannon were 56.9% down in June, compared to the same month last year.
While the other State airports, Cork and Dublin, also saw falls, these were far less serious than what was seen at Shannon.
Last month, there were 1,088 commercial traffic movements at the Clare airport, compared to 2,525 in June 2009.
For the first six months, the amount of commercial movements through the airport was 7,801, compared to 14,297 for the first half of 2009, meaning that the level of business is just 55% of what it was.
The decline at Shannon has been particularly apparent since the Ryanair cutbacks but it is hoped that the new services being run by Aer Lingus and Aer Arann to Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow and Manchester will go some way to reversing the slide.
However, on the Ryanair website at the moment, it isn’t possible to book Ryanair flights to certain sun destinations on dates this winter. This has led to speculation that the discount airline will again cut services from Shannon this winter.
Clare TD Pat Breen has questioned the possibility of more flights going.
“Access to sun destinations from the Mid-West region from Shannon Airport has always been problematic. The arrival of Ryanair in 2006 helped to bolster the number of services and choice of sun destinations available from Shannon. A number of these services to Faro, Alicante and Barcelona proved very popular and they were well supported here in the region but nevertheless they were axed by Ryanair last year. Now further sun destinations could be about to fall victim to further Ryanair cutbacks. Flights to Malaga, Nantes and Palma cannot be booked today and I understand that the airline is due to publish their winter schedule shortly.
“This uncertainty about the future of sun destinations from Shannon is very unhelpful, as those who are travelling during the winter usually book their flights well in advance of travelling and many may be forced to book from alternative airports.”
He also claimed that Shannon has relied too much on Ryanair. “This over reliance on one airline to deliver these services leaves Shannon very exposed. The Shannon Airport Authority and Shannon Development should be sitting down to review their airline support schemes,” he concluded.