This article is from page 6 of the 2007-08-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
ame) aale gust 10 just 22 people had taken ad- vantage of the “cheaper flights” from Belfast to London Heathrow from
January 14 to 21, 2008. The total revenue from these fares was a mere £412 sterling.
The airline has the capacity to carry as many as 9,/44 people in its four slots from the Northern Ireland airport during that period.
The three slots that would have been used during this winter period in Shannon could have carried 7,308 passengers.
More than 6.5 per cent of the ca- pacity of these flights for January 14 to 21, 2008 had already been booked when Aer Lingus announced it was
cancelling the route.
Instead, the coveted slots were be- ing transferred to Belfast.
Critics of the decision have argued it makes no business sense.
Last year, more than 321,000 peo- ple travelled the London Heathrow/ Shannon route. Of that number, 25 per cent were estimated to be busi- ness passengers while 33 per cent came through London Heathrow from the USA or Europe.
Chief Executive of Limerick Cham- ber Maria Kelly said, “The Shannon- Heathrow service has been operating
successfully and profitably for over half a century and the removal of these services will effectively cut off the West of Ireland from all major European cities and key destinations in the Middle and Far East. This will have serious implications for both tourism and business in the region.
“Cork, Dublin and Belfast will continue to have links to Heathrow and the other great European hubs to connect travellers to long-haul inter- national flights but the west and mid- west regions will now be deprived of this,” she said.
Tadhg Kearney, Limerick Chamber transport spokesperson, added, “It is important to emphasize that the Shannon-Heathrow route is success- ful and profitable and is one where Aer Lingus has for decades enjoyed an effective monopoly because of slot capacity restrictions in Heath- row Airport. They are now abandon- ing this profitable monopoly route to instead enter the highly competitive Belfast-Heathrow market against two other significant operators. One must question the commercial logic behind such a decision.”