*Shannon Airport Group CEO, Conal Henry, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, James Lawless (FF) and the Shannon Airport Group CEO, Mary Considine.
MOVING airline capacity from Dublin Airport to Shannon Airport will bring tourists where they “want to go” and ease pressure on the capital, the CEO of the Shannon Airport Group has said.
Minister of State at the Department of Transport with responsibility for International and Road Transport and Logistics, James Lawless (FF) encouraged tourists visiting Ireland to flying into Shannon or Cork Airport.
Dublin Airport remains under a passenger cap of 32 million passengers a year and the Junior Minister outlined there are other options to the increasing the cap. The limit was originally brought in during planning permission for the airport’s second terminal in 2007, over concerns about traffic around the airport.
Lawless held a tense meeting with Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary as part of a series of engagements with key stakeholders on the passenger cap.
Following this meeting, the Junior Minister said his “preferred outcome” was that planning authorities imminently lift the cap to 40 million, but added that efforts to mitigate the effects of the limit had to be taken in the interim.
He said an “obvious solution” was to increase the use of Shannon Airport and Cork Airport, which are not subjected to caps. He said airlines should explore increasing connections to the regional airports, adding that there may be an infrastructure risk in Ireland’s reliance on Dublin Airport. “There’s nobody in a better place than Ryanair and with a better proven record at marketing outlying airports as a destination. I’ve gone to Paris (Beauvais) with Ryanair, Venice (Treviso) with Ryanair – why can’t I fly to Shannon with Ryanair”.
In a statement to The Clare Echo, Shannon Airport Group CEO Mary Considine flagged Shannon’s role in ensuring balanced regional development. “Shannon Airport is crucial in rebalancing Ireland’s aviation landscape, having capacity to ease congestion at Dublin Airport, enhance connectivity, and support the Government’s goal of a balanced regional economy. As Minister Lawless has highlighted, there is no cap at airports outside Dublin, in fact there is significant underutilised capacity in these airports. As a country we cannot afford to lose new aviation business when the solution is in our hands, and we need to give a strong message internationally that Ireland inc is open for business”.
She outlined, “It is really important that we look at the entire airport system in the country. It is no secret that there is underutilised capacity at Shannon and all airports along the west coast. When you look at where tourists want to go, over 40% of all tourists flying into Dublin wish to go to the west coast. Moving airline capacity to meet that need would give customers what they want and take pressure off Dublin Airport and improve the quality of life for people living near the Airport.
“We have the longest runway of any airport in Ireland and can take any aircraft type. We have seen our catchment area expand significantly in the last few years as more and more passengers realise how easy it is to use Shannon Airport. It is also no coincidence that almost half of FDI companies in Ireland are located within our airport catchment area. These businesses cite the importance of having daily transatlantic as well as UK and European services as a key influencing factor in their decision to locate here”.
Capacity exists at Shannon to ease the pressure on Dublin, Ms Considine stressed. “Shannon Airport’s immediate catchment area contains 38% of the national population, but accounts for just over 4% of Ireland’s airport traffic. In a context where Dublin Airport has capacity constraints, and Ireland is struggling to meet binding decarbonisation targets, Shannon Airport has the capacity to take pressure off Dublin now.
“There are several million journeys travelling from our region each year to use Dublin Airport, and if we can encourage airlines to put more capacity and increase the frequency of their existing services from Shannon, it will allow more people to fly from their local airport, further alleviating pressure from Dublin Airport. Today we have 33 routes from Shannon and are ideally situated to grow that demand. We are one of only two airports in Europe to offer a full US preclearance service. We have the infrastructure, the spare capacity and most importantly, we have the team in place and today we stand ready, willing and able to grow and expand,” she added.
