This article is from page 16 of the 2007-06-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
THE Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) is aiming to increase its trans- atlantic passenger base by 300,000 in the years after the ending of the Shannon stop-over.
The phased ending of the stop-over will come fully into force next April with the introduction of full Open Selene
Currently, the number of North America-bound passengers from Shannon 1s 700,000.
Executive chairman of the SAA, Pat Shanahan said, “In the first cou- ple of years of ‘Open Skies’, we may see a Slight dip in the transaltantic traffic going through Shannon and it may dip from 700,000 to 650,000 but I believe that the volume of traf- fic coming into Ireland with ‘Open Skies’ will increase.
“By 2010 our anticipation will be that Shannon will have 30 per cent of the market and this will equate to about | million passengers. So we in Shannon would be better off in that environment than where we are to- day. There will be a little dip before- hand but as the market continues to grow and develop, there will be more traffic for everyone and Shannon will start growing again,” he said.
On the proposed €53 million pack- age that interest groups in the mid- west are currently lobbying Govern-
ment for, Mr Shanahan said, “I think those funds should be made avail- able.”
He said, “I know the tourist indus- try are worried about the profile of the west of Ireland in the US and the idea was to offset the impact of “Open Skies’ with more tourism marketing over the next five years. That is 1m- portant and it is a fund that needs to be put in place.”
Mr Shanahan said, “I know that people have been fearful that Shan- non will be losing traffic and yes air- lines will make decisions like Amer- ican Airlines who have decided not to come to Shannon.
‘American Airlines have only been flying over the past two years and they came to Ireland in anticipation of “Open Skies’ and it was our belief at an airport level that they would al- ways go to Dublin.”
Mr Shanahan said that the SAA’s transatlantic strategy was key to the success of the airport.
He said: “This winter we have five direct daily services into North America. This is quite an achieve- ment for an environment that is ef- fectively “Open Skies’.”
Mr Shanahan said that Shannon had a very bright and vibrant future following the successful completion of the rationalisation “survival plan” and that this would translate into sub- stantial infrastructural investment.