Shannon–Edinburgh route announced

A NEW service from Shannon Airport to Edinburgh was announced this week by Aer Lingus Regional, which is operated by Aer Arann under a franchise arrangement.

From Sunday, March 27, the service will operate five days a week. Aer Lingus Regional’s summer schedule will commence on the same date and will include additional flights to Manchester on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Its Birmingham service will operate daily at a business-friendly time, while the Shannon to Glasgow route will run three times a week.
Paul Schütz is Aer Arann’s chief executive and he said he is confident about the new service.
“I’ve no doubt that Edinburgh will be an extremely popular route, with demand throughout the Mid-West Region for direct businesses and leisure services to the UK. I’m also delighted to announce details of our Shannon summer services.”
Services from Shannon will be significantly increased for the summer season, he added. “The good news is that the number of Aer Lingus Regional services from Shannon will increase by 36%. It further demonstrates our commitment to sustainable flights. The new schedule will include additional flights to Manchester on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, the Birmingham service will operate at a business-friendly time and the Shannon to Glasgow route will operate three times a week. To this end, we will be relying on business and leisure travellers throughout the Mid-West to support these services.”
He said there are currently no plans to start services to continental Europe but he didn’t rule it out happening in the future. He also predicted that the airline will create around 50 jobs in 2011.
However, Mr Schütz was reluctant to be drawn on the chances of Aer Arann returning to profit. “It would be a brave person in any airline that would forecast a profit at this time until we see where oil goes, but it’s safe to say that Aer Arann has turned a huge corner since last year and we are doing our best to get back to sustained profitability.”
Alan Long of Aer Lingus said the new services show the airline’s commitment to the Mid-West, something that has been questioned at times.
“This latest addition to the Shannon network will bring the total number of weekly departures from Shannon, under the Aer Lingus regional brand, to 34 for summer of 2011. This new route follows on from the commencement of Aer Lingus’ operations to Paris Charles De Gaulle from December 17 and the recent operation of a daily service to London Gatwick commencing in March of this year.
These new routes, together with our three daily departures to London Heathrow and our transatlantic services to Boston and New York, further underlines our commitment to the Shannon area.”
Shannon Airport director Mary Considine said things are looking up for the airport. “With the launch of seven new services by Aer Arann and Aer Lingus combined over the last seven months we are confident that we are now beginning to turn the corner,” she said.
Mayor of Shannon Tony Mulcahy said Aer Arann’s business model seems to be working. He also said Aer Arann seem to be recovering from its well-documented difficulties. “It just shows again what can happen if you give a company a bit of time and a bit of breathing space,” he commented.