This article is from page 20 of the 2009-07-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
SHANNON Airport has suffered a 19 per cent drop in transatlantic traf- fic for the first six months of the year as the recession impacts on the air- port’s long-haul routes.
Figures from the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) confirm that overall passenger numbers dropped by 7 per cent to 1.4m with the airport unlikely to hit 3 million passengers a year for the first time since 2004.
A spokeswoman for the SAA said that while airport management was disappointed with the decline, the results are better than those being experienced by many international airports worldwide.
The 19 per cent drop in transat- lantic traffic for the first six months follows a 19 per cent drop during the first six months of last year with the introduction of the ‘open skies’ re- gime on the US routes.
The number of US passengers trav- elling through Shannon dropped from 262,858 to 212,915 compared with the 325,438 who travelled on the routes in the first six months of 2007 before the recession and the in- troduction of open skies.
The numbers are expected to drop further in the second half of 2009 as carriers such as Aer Lingus and Delta reduce their services to the US
over the winter months.
Airport Director, Martin Moroney said that while the figures were dis- appointing, a reduction was expected because of open skies.
“Transatlantic services have been affected by the economic downturn, but we have worked extremely hard to retain them through the provision OLN e-VENCOMOloa/esOjeeeloNlmnNes TEA Loe
“Tt is vital that transatlantic servic- es continue to be successful as it is a very important segment of our traffic and a major contributor to both in- dustrial and tourism development.
‘European traffic showed a decline of 3 per cent mainly due to are- duction in services offered by tour operators to the traditional sun des- tinations, because of the economic Abn sers ites
“Traffic on the London routes re- mains the same as last year, though this may increase when Aer Lingus increases its service to Heathrow. Traffic on UK regional routes 1s down by 8 per cent and is expected to decrease further in the remainder of the year.
“We will be introducing efficien- cies and cost savings in our operation while capitalising on the introduction of full US pre-clearance on July 29 which will assist in attracting more business including British Airways and corporate jets’, he said.