This article is from page 4 of the 2008-07-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THE chief executive of City Jet said that his colleagues in Air France asked him if he was mad establishing a Shannon-Paris Charles de Gaulle Service.
Addressing the Dail’s Transport Committee, Geoffrey O’Byrne White said, “When we mentioned Shannon Airport to our colleagues in the Aur France planning department, they did not know where it was. They looked up Shannon on the internet and asked
if I was mad because nobody lives there. They were not aware of it. It 1s not on the globe as far as the rest of Europe is concerned.
He said, “We may find that hard to believe, but it 1s a fact. There are 500 million people in Europe who know about Connemara, but who do not know about Shannon. There is need, therefore, for a significant marketing and branding exercise.
He added, “Shannon has benefited from the investment in road infra- structure and should be seen as a
gateway, not just for the Shannon re- gion, but also for Galway. If the work can be completed on the Gort bypass, that would be a great step forward. Such initiatives are very important. A rail network is also significant.
Last year, in the fall-out of the deci- sion by Aer Lingus to end its Shan- non-Heathrow route, City Jet estab- lished its Charles de Gaulle route to compensate for the loss of connectiv- ity as aresult of the Aer Lingus deci- sion.
Mr O’Byrne White said that he sees
Shannon as the major western gate- way. He confirmed that City Jet will have a Shannon-based aircraft in October and that flights from Shan- non will leave earlier, and also said the airline have “a Shannon-London City Airport connection under active consideration.”
Mr O’Byrne White said that the Shannon-Charles de Gaulle route “‘is developing well and we plan to in- crease capacity by introducing 100- seat jet aircraft – our own Avro air- craft – as soon as they are available”.