This article is from page 9 of the 2012-04-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
MEMBERS of Clare County Council last night agreed that Aer Lingus had treated the people who use Shannon Airport as second-class citizens, after passengers were left stranded when their plane was rerouted to accommodate a DublinBoston flight.
Cllr Sean McLoughlin (FG) told the meeting that on March 29, 187 passengers were about to board a flight at Shannon for Boston when they were told there was a technical difficulty with the plane.
It emerged, however, that two of the flight’s “VIP passengers” were then flown to Dublin on the plane and the plane was used for the Dublin-Boston flight.
Cllr McLoughlin said that, on March 30, the plane was then used to take the remaining 185 stranded passengers to Boston, a day later than scheduled.
“Aer Lingus are treating people who use Shannon Airport as second-class citizens and have been doing so for years. I, for one, will be glad to see the back of the Dublin Airport Authority out of Shannon,” he said.
He called for the council to write to Christopher Mueller, CEO of Aer Lingus, “to ask him to stop the Aer Lingus practice of cancelling flights from or to Shannon and use the Shannon plane to fly to or from Dublin, when the Dublin plane is out of action.”
Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said he used the airport on March 30 and was made aware of what had happened.
“It is an indictment of how Aer Lingus looks at Shannon Airport in the first place and Clare secondly,” he said.
He said the county manager and mayor of Clare should write to Aer Lingus and “point out how slighted they feel by the treatment of County Clare and the passengers using the airport.”
Shannon councillor Cllr Patricia McCarthy (IND) said the national airline treated Shannon with contempt and it could not be allowed to continue.
Cllr Pat McMahon (FF) raised concerns that incidents like this erode the confidence of the travelling public.