This article is from page 20 of the 2009-07-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
AER LINGUS hopes to increase services on the Shannon-London Heathrow service within a matter of weeks.
The airline recommenced flights on the route at the end of March with a morning and evening flight each way but reduced capacity ensured it was the least popular service for passen- gers travelling to London during the months of April and May.
An Aer Lingus spokesman said the Shannon-Heathrow route “is performing well and is in line with our other bases in Dublin, Cork and Belfast”.
The question of additional flights on the Shannon-Heathrow route “is subject to securing the slot. We don’t have it nailed down, but we expect to confirm it very soon”.
The confirmation could come about in a matter of weeks.
Figures from the UK Civil Avia- tion Authority show that because of the limited capacity, a total of 11,381 travelled on the Shannon-Heath- row route during the month of April — its first month back in service. This compares to 44,820 travelling to Heathrow from Cork during the Same month and the 137,233 travel- ling to Heathrow from Dublin.
23,/78 travelled on the Ryanair service to London Stansted during April and a further 16,246 travelled on the Ryanair service to Gatwick the same month.
11,838 travelled on the Aer Lingus Shannon-Heathrow service in May and this compares to 24,536 flying with Ryanair to London Stansted and 17,160 to London Gatwick.
The Aer Lingus decision to end the Shannon-Heathrow service in August 2007 provoked a storm of protest in the Dail and the mid-west region.
Fianna Fail TD, Timmy Dooley said yesterday that the addition of new flights on the Shannon-Heath- row route “will significantly add to the level of passenger traffic on the route”’.
“At the moment, the time slots are
not good. The first flight 1s at around Qam and the business community would need a much earlier flight.”
He said the addition of a mid-morn- ing flight would allow transatlan- tic passengers coming into London make an onward connection to Shan- tee
‘At the moment, the flights are good on a point to point basis, but the new schedule will bring about more suit- able times,” he predicted.