This article is from page 2 of the 2013-03-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
FLIGHTS in and out of Shannon Airport dropped by 17 per cent last month, when compared to the same period the previous year it was announced this week. Coinciding with those figures was the announcement that Shannon’s early morning Heathrow flight is to be put back to a later time. According to figures released by Irish Air Traffic Control, the drop of traffic into the Clare airport was significant when compared to the other State airports, who also suffered a drop in numbers.
Shannon was down an average of 44 commercial daily movements when compared to February 2012.
Dublin had a drop of 1.6 per cent while Cork was down 2.1 per cent. However Irish air traffic is set to increase over the next seven years, according to the latest air traffic forecast published by Euro Control.
There was mixed reaction this week to the news that Shannon’s daily morning flight to Heathrow will now fly on a later schedule. Previously the flight left Shannon at 7.30am, landing in Heathrow at 9am. From March 31st the flight goes back to 8.45am meaning passengers will not now be in London until 10.15am.
The switch will affect many people in the Mid-West region who commute to London every week for work, the change meaning they cannot be in their offices before at the earliest, 11.30am on Monday mornings.
The remaining two flights to London Heathrow, at 12.50pm and 5.10pm remain unaffected.
The change may offer an opportu- nity for another airline to come into Shannon and offer an alternative early morning flight into London. The Aer Lingus slots at Heathrow have long been a source of envy from other airlines, not least Ryanair who are said to covet the routes in and out of Heathrow, which would have been an attractive part of their purchase of Aer Lingus, which they are still pursuing.
Shannon Airport will fall under the complete control of the ‘Newco’ in three months times, with a new CEO expected to be appointed in April.