This article is from page 14 of the 2012-10-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
THE fortunes of Shannon Airport are set to dip even further this year with new figures predicting that 2012 will be the worst year for commercial traffic at the airport since before 1997.
According to figures obtained from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), Shannon Airport is already 646 commercial flights behind where it was for this time last year. This represents a 4.35 per cent year-on-year drop when compared to the nine months from January to the end of September 2011.
Should this trend continue through October, November and the end of this year, Shannon Airport’s total number of commercial movement in 2012 will come to just 18,435.
This means that the number of commercial flights using Shannon Airport has halved in just five years. In 2007, the total number of commercial movements at the airport reached an all time high of 35,630. These numbers fell consistently until 2010, when the appeared to bottom out at 18,771 movements and rallied back to 19,275 last year.
These losses at Shannon Airport are in contrast to Dublin Airport, which has shown steady growth in 2012, and Cork where commercial movement have been largely flat or showing a slight year-on-year drop.
The long-awaited separation of Shannon Airport from the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) could move a step closer when Taoiseach Enda Kenny (FG) will be briefed jointly by the chairpeople of the two taskforces set up in June to plot a new direction for Shannon.
John Fitzgerald and Rose Hynes will present to the sub-committee on economic infrastructure on Thursday. This committee, which is chaired by the Taoiseach, also includes the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan (FG); the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar (FG); and Richard Bruton (FG), Minister for Jobs and Innovation. 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000