Shannon Airport: ‘Ready, willing and able to grow and expand’

IT IS vital Shannon Airport is used to its full capacity in order to prevent the loss of tourism and aviation business to Ireland.

That’s the view of the chief executive of the hub’s parent company Mary Considine amid the continuing row over the passenger cap at Dublin Airport.

It looks likely the capital’s airport will exceed its annual allowance of 32 million passengers.

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And the move has seen budget airline Ryanair limit the number of seats it is offering into Dublin for the winter season.

Its chief executive Michael O’Leary has warned the cap - which has been in place since 2007 - will lead to fewer flights and higher fares.

But Ms Considine now feels Shannon Airport is in a position to step in, supporting comments by Minister of State at the Department of Transport James Lawless who has highlighted underused space outside the capital.

“As Minister Lawless has highlighted, there is no cap at airports outside Dublin, in fact there is significant underutilised capacity in these airports. As a country we cannot afford to lose new aviation business when the solution is in our hands, and we need to give a strong message internationally that Ireland inc is open for business,” said Ms Considine, who is the chief executive of the Shannon Airport Group.

She pointed out that 40% of tourists into Dublin do so specifically to visit the west, as opposed to Dublin.

Ms Considine said: “It is no secret that there is underutilised capacity at Shannon and all airports along the west coast. When you look at where tourists want to go, over 40% of all tourists flying into Dublin wish to go to the west coast. Moving airline capacity to meet that need would give customers what they want and take pressure off Dublin Airport and improve the quality of life for people living near the airport.”

Shannon, she added, has the longest runway of any airport in Europe, and has seen its catchment area grow in recent years.

“It is also no coincidence that almost half of foreign direct investment companies in Ireland are located within our airport catchment area. These businesses cite the importance of having daily transatlantic as well as British and European services as a key influencing factor in their decision to locate here,” Ms Considine added.

While Shannon Airport’s catchment area contains 38% of Ireland’s population, it accounts for just four percent of Ireland’s aviation traffic.

“We have the infrastructure, the spare capacity and most importantly, we have the team in place and today we stand ready, willing and able to grow and expand,” concluded Ms Considine.

Currently, Shannon operates services to Britain, USA, Spain, France, Lithuania, Poland, Malta, Italy and Portugal.