This article is from page 8 of the 2012-01-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
THE number of commercial flights landing at Shannon Airport in 2011 was 42 per cent less than the number coming to the airport at the height of the Celtic Tiger in 2008. This massive drop in plane numbers was confirmed by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) last week when Shannon Airport was also confirmed as Ireland’s third busiest airport, behind both Dublin and Cork.
A total of 19,275 planes landed in Shannon Airport in 2011, or an average of 53 planes each day. This compares to Cork Airport where 22,173 coastal flights landed and Dublin where 522,959 flights landed.
Despite the 42 per cent drop from the 2008 peak, these latest figures actually represent an improvement on the 2010 passenger numbers, with 2.7 per cent more flights landing at the airport last year, compared to 2010.
The figures also indicated that the gap between Shannon and Cork Airport to be Ireland’s second most used commercial airport in closing. Shannon’s 2.7 per cent increase in plane traffic compares to a 6.2 per cent year-on-year reduction to the traffic numbers coming through Cork Airport. Should this trend continue, Shannon Airport would pass out Cork and once again become Ireland’s second most popular airport in 2015.
The figures do not include the number of US military airplanes which used the facilities at Shannon in 2011. If military flights had been used as part of the calculations, Shannon would have outstripped Cork in the number of planes using the facility.
The improvement on the 2010 figures may not indicate a rebound in the industry, however, as numbers were down in that year as a result of the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano.
According to Eamonn Brennan, Chief Executive of the IAA, the reduction in traffic volumes was very disappointing but was not unexpected in the context of the global economic crises. “En route charges in Irish airspace have been reduced by eight per cent this year and we hope to reduce these further in 2013 and 2014. Our reductions greatly exceed the minimum 3.5 per cent required by the Single European Sky II package and Ireland is the fourth lowest in Europe for air traffic control charges to airlines in 2012,” he said.
“The terminal charges have also been reduced by 21 per cent this month and will be cut by six per cent yearly from 2013 to 2015.”