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Aer Lingus to screw Shannon … again

Just over 12 months after Aer Lingus announced it would scrap the profitable Shannon-Heathrow route, there are now concerns that they plan on another kick in the teeth for the region by scrapping one of its trans-Atlantic routes, Shannon-Chicago.

Staff at the airport are being asked to attend a meeting on Thursday, and there are real fears that this route will be redirected to Dublin.

According to this morning’s Irish Examiner, Aer Lingus has already announced the reduction of its trans-Atlantic traffic by 15 percent to facilitate the refurbishment of their aircraft.  Shannon is set to take the brunt of these reductions by the loss of an aircraft based at the airport.

More from the Examiner.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 2:15 am and is filed under All. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Jack
    i can see them pulling out of Shannon. Screw them. They are focusing on Cork to Develop the base. They recently announced a further 5 routes from Cork. When waterford extend the runway thet think aer lingus will start roues there. Fat chance
  • kevin
    we are a nation of hot air ejits, it will be all lip service again for a while and then it will go away just like the shannon - heathrow situation, Willie O'Dea is back doing his rounds of Limerick and people have forgotton what he did or didnt do the last time, so take it up the arse and accept it like we always do................
  • {Batman}
    What I can't undersatnd is that having an International Airport on my door step, that I can't have a direct access to most European destinations... It's a Joke...
    I refuse to travel to Dublin..
    I rather use (Not so Cheap) Ryan Air to Stansted & then travel on again to my final destination...
    No wonder the Dublin Airport Authority can beat thier chests each year boasting about the 18million plus passengers that passed through their Airport..
    I wonder why that is...Ah er.. sure everyone in the country has to use Dublin Airport to get off this island..
    If the Shannon Airport lowered their landing fees it might just help.. instead of relying on the US Army Troop Carrier to stop off...
    I think eventually Shannon Airport will turn into a Freight Hub..
  • colm
    Don't fool yourself. If Aer Lingus makes a major loss and threatens to go out of business the government will use our tax-euros to bail them out. Remember that as with everything in this country the jobs in Shannon and Cork are expendable and low on the government priority list.

    The jobs in Dublin will be protected at all costs.
  • starkie
    paul says people wont fly aerlingus for safety reasons. that cant be true because aer lingus has a fantastic safety record.
  • Gramsci
    This was always going to happen once it was privatised and ceased to be a flag carrier as the spineless gits in the Government won't use their stakeholding to protect the national interest - or maybe they're revealing the truth that the future of the Shannon Region is not part of the National Interest despite the huffing and puffing of O'Dea and co.
  • Hoof
    Remarkable that they've been so modest on the wonderful contribution that Aer Lingus' first base outside the State has made to their operations and half-year results.

    I never realised Dermot Mannion could be such a shrinking violet ! One would have thought he would have been trumpeting RAF Belfast as the airline's saviour in these hard times. If not him then surely the good (friday) politicians who helped him engineer this move to such a profitable airport, that they would be shouting it from on high..... But not a peep !!!
  • GreenRaven
    Just read Aer Lingus has reported operating losses of more than €22 million for the first half of this year. Blaming it all, on rising costs in fuel.
  • donkey
    well theyve gotten rid of the irish language off some of their routes, belfast for example, probably to appease unionist passengers? maybe theyl just move to china next! ?
  • Hoof
    Worthwhile having a look at their site. For instance the fares they're offering on Belfast - Heathrow, even a casual search for flights during September has nothing above 10sterling, that's maybe €12.60 each way plus tax......when did they ever offer a bargain like that on SNN-LHR?

    And have a look at the fares to Amsterdam from Belfast....€3 each way every flight during September, Aer Lingus will probably pay the Orangemen to fly that route in October. Must be losing their bollix up there but won't admit it.

    So they're in the red, good. At least we don't have to bail them out this time round.
  • Paul
    What a bunch of Bollax. Why dont they just close down...That probobly will happen as I know a lot of people who wont even fly them for safety reasons and the rudest customer service agents in the business
  • GreenRaven
    It will be All Talk But No Action. The usual so.
  • ronwan
    F**k em. Leave em off. I got the chicago route from shannon with aerlingus recently and had to travel through Dublin on both legs of the journey, which didnt make sense as on the way back the plane stayed in dublin without us being allowed off the plane until arrival in shannon. Direct routes me arse. Get fu**ed
  • Good Friday
    I agree that Aer Lingus will pull out of Shannon altogether. If you go to book online the selection from Shannon is mainly US destinations consisting of some which would not be a very popular holiday destination as such.
    They seem to offer plenty of European destinations from Dublin airport.
    Absolutely ridiculous.
  • Hoof
    I forecast a strongly worded letter on the subject from Reichsmarschall O'Day.
  • john wayne
    Any comments from O Dea on this or the idiots that vote for him?
  • colm
    I expect that Aer Lingus will have completely pulled out of both Shannon and Cork by the end of 2009. The chances are Belfast will follow as it is performing far worse than they could possibly have hoped when they decided to set the precedence of moving the Heathrow Slots out of the country.

    They are progressively introducing a single airport policy in Ireland and will use their Heathrow slots for a new direct "low cost" US-London service. The new passport and customs inspection facilities under construction in the Gate 80-90 section of Heathrow T1 will facilitate that change to a transatlantic service.
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