This article is from page 14 of the 2006-07-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
THE chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA), Pat Shanahan said yesterday that Shannon needed to respond quickly and aggressively to the ending of the Shannon stopover.
Mr Shanahan was speaking at a briefing at Shannon Airport yesterday where the Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen was presented with a €53 million five year action plan to sustain transatlantic air services at Shannon following the stopover.
“Shannon needs to respond quickly and aggressively to this change in the market place.
“The regulation, although it has been good for Shannon in the past, it also has negative connotations in the industry where airlines felt that they were forced to land in Shannon.
He added: “we want them to land in Shannon because there is a real market in Shannon.”
Minister Cullen proposed the drawing up of a tourism and economic plan to sustain Shannon’s transatlantic business in an ‘open skies’ environment, which commences in April 2008.
In a presentation to Minister Cullen, the chair of the steering group of the Mid Western Regional Authority that drew up the plan, Clare County Manager, Alec Fleming said that the five-year action plan sought to achieve a tourism promotional fund of €44 million from Government funds; a route support fund of €9 million and an independent and financially viable Shannon Airport.
“The target for Shannon is to secure a 30 per cent share of the direct transatlantic market between America and Ireland and to achieve an appropriate sustainable level of year round services to main US gateways.”
Mr Fleming said that it was important that an extension to the US Custom and Border Protection facility take place at Shannon providing an opportunity to grow Shannon’s US market.
He said that it was also vital that Shannon extend its catchment area in the west of Ireland through the building of new roads and rail links.
The plan is supported by all the local authorities in the region, along with Shannon Development, IBEC and the American Chamber of Commerce.
Minister Cullen described the plan as a ‘good one’.
On continuing discussions between unions and management over the future of the SAA, Minister Cullen said, “I would like to see the talks come to a conclusion fairly quickly.
“That is so that we have a clear view of what the basis of the airport’s economic viability is in the future so that we can move forward.”