This article is from page 36 of the 2008-07-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 36 JPG
HAVING moved the Shannon-Hea- throw slots to Belfast in January, Aer Lingus have not been drawn by claims that the decision has been a disaster with vastly reduced uptake on the flights in comparison to the numbers carried in and out of Shan- Kone
But figures obtained by Oireactas Transport Committee member, Dep- uty Pat Breen, show that the take-up on the Belfast to Heathrow route is
“poor”.
Deputy Breen checked availability figures on Friday, July 25. He found that just 122 seats were booked of a possible 696 for travel on August 1 to August 3, one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. The bookings represent an 18 per cent take-up on the Heathrow route for that week- end.
Deputy Breen said he is calling on Aer Lingus to reinstate their Shan- non-Heathrow link adding that the airline has a ready made market of in
excess of 300,000 passengers in the region.
“At the recent Transport Committee Meeting I asked the Aer Lingus CEO Dermot Mannion if a year on from his decision to exit Shannon and es- tablish a base in Belfast if the move had resulted in significant growth in profits in comparison with business done in Shannon. In response Dermot Mannion said that Belfast is “holding its own,’ said Deputy Breen.
“However, Aer Lingus own seat al- location system tells a different story.
I decided to check their services on August 1, 2008, and returning on Sunday, August 3, 2008. Only 18 per cent of seats were allocated on Fri- day, the day I checked the figures on all Belfast routes to London Heath- row Outbound.”
Figures for other routes checked on the same day for travel on the Bank Holiday weekend showed that on the Paris route 19 per cent of seats were allocated, 10 per cent to Amsterdam, 16 per cent to Barcelona, 14 per cent to Rome while flights to Faro and
Malaga do better at 29 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.
“IT am now appealing to Aer Lingus to reinstate their Shannon-Heathrow route, the market is here and when Dermot Mannion admitted during the Transport Committee Meeting that he regretted the damage that was caused to ‘our reputation in the Shan- non area during three or four months of last year’, 12 months on they have an opportunity to rebuild their repu- tation by committing to a Shannon- Heathrow link,’ he said.