This article is from page 9 of the 2008-08-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
NEWLY released figures for the first six months of the contentious Bel- fast Heathrow service show that it is more than 50,000 passengers below the numbers from Shannon for the same period last year.
It is now a year since Aer Lingus announced its controversial move to abandon its Shannon Heathrow serv- ice and transfer the lucrative slots to Belfast.
Figures provided by the UK Civil Aviation Authority show that be- tween January and June, 109,309
used the new Belfast link compared to the 169,999 passengers that used the Shannon-Heathrow link during the same period last year — a differ- ential of 33 per cent.
22,102 passengers used the Bel- fast Heathrow service in June while 32,111 used the Shannon Heathrow service in June 2007.
Overall figures for the first six months show that Aer Lingus has se- cured only 10 per cent of the Beltfast- Heathrow service and are now offer- ing seats for free excluding taxes and airport charges during August in a bid to boost passenger numbers.
An Aer Lingus spokesman said the airline had a load factor of 74 per cent during July on its Belfast Hea- throw service and the Belfast base is expected to be profitable by the end of the year.
BMI is Aer Lingus’ sole rival on the Heathrow route with the UK- owned airline flying 219,512 passen- gers from January to May this year which is 132,215 passengers more than Aer Lingus.
The figures show that Aer Lingus passenger numbers are on an upward trend going from 17,520 in its first full month of service in February to VOU OAM lb ier
The Aer Lingus decision to end its Heathrow link resulted in Shannon experiencing a 16 per cent loss of 57,000 on London routes for the first six half of this year.
A spokesman for Aer Lingus workers at Shannon said the figures confirmed that the decision by Aer Lingus management to abandon Shannon and move to Belfast where there was an already saturated mar- ket was a bad commercial decision.
At a Dail Transport Committee last month, Aer Lingus chief executive, Dermot Mannion said he regretted the damage caused to the airline’s reputation in the Shannon last year, adding that they had not ruled out future short-haul operations from Shannon.