This article is from page 10 of the 2013-10-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
RYANAIR has been challenged to deliver on a promise to grow traffic out of Shannon Airport on the back of the Government decision to scrap the controversial travel tax in last Tuesday’s Budget.
The abolition of the tax, which was originally introduced by the Fianna Fáil-led government in 2009 and fixed at € 10 only to be scaled down to € 3 in subsequent years, was seen as a major stumbling block to Ryanair passenger growth out of Shannon.
Now, on the back of its abolition and Ryanair’s commitment to grow its traffic at its Irish airports by at least 1m passengers per annum from April 2014 has led to renewed hopes that Shannon can created into a lowcost hub for the budget airline.
To this end Shannon Airport executives, along with those from Dublin, Cork Kerry and Knock, were represented at meetings with Ryanair to make their pitch for enhance flights and destinations out of the airport.
“The repeal of the air travel tax helps restore Ireland’s competitiveness and attractiveness to overseas visitors from the UK and Continental Europe in particular,” says Ryanair’s Michael Cawley.
He said the meetings with airport executives were about exploring “where we can add new routes or additional frequencies on existing routes, and deliver at least 1m new passengers which will create over 1,000 new jobs as a direct result of the Government’s decision to scrap the visitor tax”.
The chief executive of Shannon Airport says the abolition of the tax represents “a very timely and proactive move by Government to support air travel as it effectively amounts to a stimulant for both our airline customers and the airport”.
“We have already begun, in this our first year as an independent airport, a recovery in passenger numbers at Shannon so this decision by Government will boost our chances of continuing in that vein and achieving the targets we have set over a five-year period as an independent entity.
“For international airports like Shannon, this initiative may help tip the balance in our favour when it comes to convincing airline customers to enhance existing and put on new services.
“We ultimately hope that this will increase our chances of growing passenger numbers and it will have a positive knock on effect for not just ourselves but for the wider business and tourism sectors in the region we serve,” he added.