This article is from page 14 of the 2007-05-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
THE Shannon Airport Authority is seeking a significant cash injection from the Dublin Airport Authority to upgrade the airport.
In an interview with Shannon Com- munity Radio Jet-FM this week, Ex- ecutive Chairman Pat Shanahan ad- mitted that the airport has suffered from under-investment in recent years.
“Shannon needs some equity now. Up until fairly recently, it was loss- making but with the restructuring we have made it profitable and it will be able to sustain its capital programme
into the future.”
“We have catch-up investment to put into the airport and it is impor- tant we consolidate that and Shannon gets a significant equity injection and moves into an environment where it is profitable and can pay for its own capital programme.
“We are now talking to the DAA about that. It is about putting the company on a good financial footing So it can invest in infrastructure,” he added
Mr Shanahan said the airport has offered discount deals for airlines operating transatlantic services over the winter.
“We are doing our bit from a com- petitive point of view so that these airlines are making money year round in Shannon and if they are making money year round, they will continue to serve Shannon.”
Mr Shanahan also revealed that a customs and borders protection fa- cility will be in place in Shannon by April 2008, when the ending of the Shannon stop-over will be complete.
Explaining the significance of the move, he said airlines could fly into any domestic terminal in the US, without going through international hubs. Shannon would be the first air- port in Europe to have that facility.