This article is from page 16 of the 2007-06-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
RYANAIR Chief Executive Michael O’Leary has confirmed to the Mayor of Clare, Flan Garvey (FF), that his airline will investigate the reopening of daily services between Shannon and Belfast.
O’Leary made the commitment during an hour-long meeting with Clare’s first citizen at Dublin Airport on Wednesday last.
Councillor Garvey said he had a “full and frank meeting” with O’Leary during which issues affect- ing the future growth of the airport and surrounding region were dis- CAN ISSsrer6
“IT impressed upon Mr O’Leary the huge demand that existed north and south for the re-establishing of direct services between Shannon and Bel- fast. Up until Aer Lingus’s decision to drop the route in 2001, the serv- ice was being used by up to 22,000 passengers a year. Aligned with the strong links between County Clare and Northern Ireland, as well as the changing attitudes to air travel, there certainly is potential for the reopen- ing of this route’, the mayor said.
‘“O’Leary confirmed to me that he would immediately request a viabil- ity study into the possible reopening of the air link.”
Aer Lingus dropped the Belfast/ Shannon leg of its New York service
from Belfast International Airport just three weeks after the terrorist attacks on New York in September 2001. At the time the airline said the move was made as part of its re- sponse to the dramatic fall-off in de- mand being experienced in the wake of the 911 attacks.
Mayor Garvey said he gave O’Leary a commitment, on behalf of Clare County Council that any new service to and from Shannon International Airport would be promoted by the local authority.
“Mr O’Leary who spoke very
honestly about Ryanair’s position at Shannon expressed to me his fears that some existing Ryanair services will require greater support from the people of the entire west of Ireland if they are to remain viable.”
Meanwhile the Ryanair boss ac- cepted Mayor Garvey’s invitation to be a keynote speaker at the annual Clare Tourism Council Conference in Ennistymon, County Clare this November.