This article is from page 25 of the 2011-02-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 25 JPG
SHANNON Airport passenger figures are poised to continue to decline until the end of March. That’s the prediction of a spokesperson for the airport, which is anticipating growth after the end of the first quarter of the year. The reduced figures were released last week, after Ryanair’s decision to reduce its services from the mid-west airport took effect in January.
Figures published by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) showed that commercial terminal flights through Shannon were down by almost 25 per cent in January. “The performance at Shannon Airport is a cause for concern,” stated a spokesperson for the IAA.
According to the figures, air traffic through Irish airspace increased by 5.1 per cent last month, compared with January 2010. Dublin and Cork figures were more promising than those for Shannon. Commercial terminal flights at Dublin increased by 0.7 per cent, while they were down by almost seven per cent at Cork.
North Atlantic flights between Europe and USA increased by four per cent last month, compared with January 2010.
Responding to the figures, a Shannon Airport spokesperson said: “Shannon Airport monthly passenger figures will continue to show a decline for the first quarter of 2011, at the end of which they will stabilize and return to growth.
“The drop is largely attributable to the ending of a five-year agreement with Ryanair, which had four aircraft based at the airport and operated 18 services twelve months ago compared to one aircraft and ten services this January. Shannon Airport was unable to accede to the airline’s demands for a new agreement that would have involved unsustainable passenger charges and significantly reduced traffic volumes. The ending of the agreement accounts for 90 per cent of the decline in passenger numbers at Shannon since.
“However, from May of this year we expect that both passenger and air traffic movement data will show a marked improvement at Shannon, arising from the airport’s strong recovery in the latter half of 2010 and its move towards a more sustainable network of services. This has already yielded positive results, with the announcement of a range of new services in the latter half of the year, an upswing that has been maintained into 2011,” added the spokesperson.
Among the newer services include the establishment of Aer Lingus services to Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Bristol (last summer) and the commencement in December of a new Aer Lingus Paris service.