This article is from page 3 of the 2005-11-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
THE writing has been in the sky for the stopo- ver since before Shannon Airport opened for business in 1945. When the solo transatlantic pioneer, Charles Lindbergh, was brought 1n to map out where Ireland should have its succes- sor to the Foynes flying boat base, he became the first in a long line of experts to predict that Shannon would not last long as a gateway. Within a year of Shannon’s take-off, Min- ister Sean Lemass was reporting to the gov- ernment that “two of the three” US airlines flying into Shannon were even then making
a case for Dublin. But it wasn’t until the Irish national airline began to meddle that the shift towards Dublin really began.
Aer Lingus was to the fore in defending the Shannon transatlantic gateway for decades, and a key element of its strategy was to oper- ate the feeder service between Shannon and Dublin by the astute tactic of having two air- lines — one for Atlantic crossings and another for internal and east-bound flights.
But when mass movements arrived in the shape of the jumbo jet, Aer Lingus decided to simply change the flight number and carry on to Dublin with a “Shannon stop” in between.
American airlines naturally demanded the same two-stop access to Dublin which was conceded in 1972, with TWA going into Dub- lin and Pan American withdrawing from the Irish market.
In the cycles of good and bad years for air travel and US tourism in Ireland, the calls for Shannon change continued through the 1970s and 1980s, but it was not until Aer Lingus lent its voice and the powerful leverage of the Dublin business lobby, that the tide really turned against Shannon from 1990.
The Shannon status battle would have been a complete rout, but for the Fianna Fail revolt
in Clare which saved daily direct connections to New York from Shannon when all seemed lost. Since the even split of US flights between Dublin and Shannon from 1993, Dublin’s share has steadily climbed at the expense of Shannon.
Furthermore, US tourism is sticking closer to the capital and not spreading around the country as in the past, while American busi- ness investment has concentrated on Dublin. Official figures show that the Mid-West has been the biggest loser in both tourism and jobs in overseas industry and services since ee