Deal saved slots, says offical
A SENIOR official from Tourism Ireland has claimed Delta Airlines was on the brink of pulling its Shannon-New York service but reconsidered after the airport signed a deal with the US Government on Customs and Border Protection (CBP) pre-clearance.
Marie Fullington, vice president of strategic marketing, US and Canada, was speaking to tourism interests in the Midwest at a conference at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Limerick.
Ms Fullington was asked by Sean Lally, manager of the Strand Hotel, Limerick, and president of Limerick Chamber, what efforts were being made to market Shannon's competitive advantage, as it becomes the first airport outside the Americas to get CBP.
This means passengers can clear US immigration and customs at Shannon, saving time and hassle at the American end, and that airlines can fly into cheaper domestic airports in the United States. A €20 million refurbishment of the terminal is underway and airport bosses expect the facility to be operational by late summer.
Ms Fullington said Tourism Ireland was conscious of this.
"It gives Shannon a tremendous opportunity later this year and beyond and when we speak about airport charges, maybe airlines would consider a flight into say Buffalo as opposed to JFK. That is the kind of significant opportunity that is there for Shannon," she said.
"In fact I was speaking to Delta who told me were it not for CBP, they would have pulled the JFK service from Shannon. The message I took from that was it should be done as soon as possible"
Delta announced late last year that it was cutting its summer service between Shannon and Atlanta. But its decision to continue operating the New York route – retaining the number of transatlantic carriers at four – was taken as a vote of confidence by airport management.
Tourism Ireland's central marketing director Paul Henry meanwhile told the Limerick Leader that he expected the number of overseas visitors into the Shannon region in 2008 will show a fall in the order of six per cent. It follows figures from the Shannon Airport Authority that the number of transatlantic passengers using Shannon fell by over 20 per cent last year, which was attributed to the Open Skies agreement, high fuel charges and the weak dollar.
Michael McNamara, who runs the Jamaica Inn hostel in Sixmilebridge, told delegates at the Radisson that his US business fell by 30 per cent last year.
Officials from Tourism Ireland, Failte Ireland and Shannon Development all agreed that 2009 would be a difficult year to attract visitors from the traditional markets, particularly the US and the UK.
But Shaun Quinn, chief executive, Failte Ireland, said that despite the global downturn, there would be seven million overseas visitors and four million domestic holidaymakers in Ireland in 2009.
Research conducted for Failte Ireland by MRBI showed 21 per cent of Irish holidaymakers planned cutting back on overseas holidays but only eight per cent planned curtailing home breaks in 2009 and this was a good opportunity for the industry.
Failte Ireland, which worked with 800 businesses in the Shannon Region in 2008, is offering a range of support services and advice to people in the business. More information is available at www.failteireland.ie
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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