Tag Archives: Shannon airport

ALREADY struggling, Shannon’s woes were compounded on Wednesday, as it emerged that Ryanair will now have no flights to or from the airport between November 14 and December 12. With Aer Lingus having pulled its Heathrow service, and transatlantic services not running either, it means Shannon will be without any scheduled passenger services at all for a number of weeks, although it will still be open to service cargo, general aviation, transit business and hangar movements. It puts Shannon at one of the lowest ebbs in its history and on Wednesday it also emerged that the strategically crucial Heathrow service won’t be returned until April at the earliest. Reacting to the decision, Shannon Group CEO Mary Considine said, “We are extremely disappointed with the news; it is a further illustration of the devastating impact of the pandemic on the aviation sector. This latest development effectively means we will have no scheduled services at Shannon for a month.” She said the …

OFTEN criticised around Shannon, Aer Lingus spokesman Sean Doyle last week told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications Networks that the airline is committed to Shannon, and plans to have transatlantic flights from the Clare airport next year. During the debate Clare TD Joe Carey, who chaired the meeting, put it to Mr Doyle that Shannon has had more services cut by Aer Lingus than other airports. “I would like to ask Mr Doyle about the commitment of Aer Lingus to Shannon Airport. Transatlantic services are of vital importance to FDI and tourism right along the western seaboard. Is the airline committed to restoring those American routes and, in particular, the Heathrow route? I note that Aer Lingus operates routes out of Cork, Dublin and Belfast. Mr Doyle has spoken about Ireland being an outlier (in terms of having more restrictive aviation policies). Shannon Airport is an outlier because it is not being treated the same as any …

SHANNON Airport has never seen such a crisis and its passenger numbers will be down by around 80% this year, CEO Mary Considine told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport on Wednesday. “We have been through many crises in the past, but never on such a global scale; this is unprecedented. Like airports globally, Shannon has witnessed an almost total collapse in airport traffic, connectivity and revenues,” she said. Shannon Group’s revenue and passenger numbers are in freefall, she added, “The figures are stark. Our passenger numbers have been declining since scheduled services recommenced on July 1. In August they were down 86% and last month they were down 91%. If this trend continues, we expect to see a decline of 80% in passenger numbers for this year compared to the previous year. As a result of these and other losses in the Group, we expect overall Group revenue to be down almost 60% by the end of this year. …

CLARE County Council should be represented on the board of Shannon Group, Senator Martin Conway claimed in the Seanad, at a debate attended by Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Hildegarde Naughton. “Whatever future structure (for Shannon Group) is being considered, though, there must be linkages with people who know tourism. Clare County Council, in particular, has a fantastic record of building tourism numbers and products, for example, the Cliffs of Moher visitor experience,” said the North Clare Senator. “Clare County Council built the cliffs from 400,000 or 500,000 visitors per year to almost two million in 2019. That type of expertise will help to inform those of us in the region. Whatever new structure is put in place in Shannon, the input must be balanced and professional and have the linkages that we need,” he added. Clare County Council have long sought influence with Shannon Group and while former Chief Executive Tom Coughlan was …

THERE had been fears that Shannon’s transatlantic connectivity was set for another pummelling, with Aer Lingus possibly transferring Shannon-USA routes to the UK, but it now seems that such concern was unwarranted. It is understood that at a recent strategic planning meeting of Aer Lingus, the airline committed to operating a summer 2021 schedule to New York and Boston, using aircraft which will be based at Shannon. It is expected that there will be two A321neo aircraft at the Clare airport, each one of which has 184 seats. While Aer Lingus may still opt to begin transatlantic services from the north of England, this will not be at Shannon’s expense. Although getting back to normal transatlantic services is still way off and dependent on the Covid-19 situation stabilising, the fact that Aer Lingus is planning to continue with the services will come as a major relief to all concerned with tourism and industry in the region. Shannon has already lost …

IRISH aviation has become more and more unbalanced over the last decade with Dublin increasingly dominant, leading to many calls for new national policy. Speaking this week, Clare TD Cathal Crowe explained that there are options available, which have been successful in distributing traffic in other countries. “I think we need to leverage support for Shannon and the other airports, we are battling for Shannon but this for all airports. We either leverage funding off them, so the flights in Dublin are levied with a fund that goes to other airports. Another option, and I believe they have done this in a number of other countries, is that if an airline wants a landing slot in the capital, they can get it, but on condition that once or twice a week they also fly out of one of the other airports in the country. I think we could do that.” He said that such a policy would help to spread …

THE Government’s newly published plan for dealing with Covid-19, Resilience and Recovery, had relatively little to say about aviation, and no measure that will bring immediate comfort to Shannon, which is facing the potential loss of Ryanair services for the winter, along with its Aer Lingus transatlantic services. Essentially it proposes that Ireland apply the principles of a European Commission regime to have a common approach to travel within the EU. “It is proposed that Ireland broadly support the European Commission proposals and should continue to engage with Member States and the Commission to develop a regime that is consistent with public health requirements, cognisant of public of resources and capacity, while supportive of our need to support air transport,” it states. Clare TD Michael McNamara was far from pleased with what was set out. “It’s entirely vague and unsatisfactory. It’s almost as if things are going fine and we don’t really need to address this, when, in fact, our …

AER Lingus has been operating “pseudoflights” from Shannon, allowing people to book tickets for flights that aren’t actually going to operate, Clare TD Cathal Crowe claimed in the Dáil. The Meelick man said that the commitment of both Aer Lingus and Ryanair to Shannon is questionable, while he criticised Aer Lingus in particular, for dubious practices. “Aer Lingus is operating pseudoflights out of Shannon. One can book three flights a day, but they will be cancelled and one might have to wait four or five months to get a refund. There is something immoral about that. Aer Lingus is either committed to flying out of Shannon and to having its aircraft there or it is not. I want the Government to intervene so that this will be solidly nailed down for the months ahead.” Deputy Crowe said that Shannon has been hard hit by Covid-19, while he also raised the replacement of Rose Hynes, who has just concluded her term …