Shannon Aer Lingus Row

Villain

Oh and a Green member of Cabinet has spoken:

From RTE.ie

John Gormley (left) has raised concerns over the Aer Lingus decision. The Minister for the Environment said he wants to meet his Cabinet colleagues to tease out the concerns of people in the mid-west.

He met business people and party members in Co Clare last night to discuss the controversial decision, saying the airline's move was not in line with Government aviation or regional development policies

ednwireland

just to throw something in why are FG and labour so quiet on this ? not a peep just heard joan burton waffle on on newstalk and say they cant say what they would do (if they won the election it would have been there problem)
have all the td's left the country
they arent exactly doing anything that would make me vote for them

Húrin

Akrasia wrote:

Are you now saying that the Government should stand back and allow an essential transport link be removed from the west of Ireland

How is flying into Heathrow an essential transport link for Clare? Are there not trains and buses to Dublin and Cork airports? Are there not two or three other international airports in London? Extra demand placed on CIE may drive it to improve its services.

irish1

irish1 wrote:

Oh and a Green member of Cabinet has spoken:

From RTE.ie

LoL...
They hypocrisy of a "green" supporting an air link to a third London airport instead of suggesting that they fly into Gatwick and cut down on airlinks and use video conferencing instead...

This at a time when they are banging on about air travel aiding global warming.

I thought they'd have more sense.

Villain

So my post wasn't that laughable then??

It seems Eamonn O'Cuiv is also in support of the links been kept, FF will have to work hard to settle this one and save face.

SeanW

WeeDiddly wrote:

If it was Dublin airport, you'd find the likes of Dempsey, Fianna Fail & Co. would be quicker to step in and uphold there 1/4 share.

Ah yes, the hyperbolic "WE'RE ALL VICTIMS OF THE PALE" mentality pops up again.

Shannon has been nothing more than a leech on the rest of Ireland's aviation policy for the past 40-50 years.


From Wikipedia

The first Air Services Agreement with the US in 1945 only permitted flights to Shannon and only permitted Irish airlines to serve Boston, Chicago and New York Idlewild (now JFK). At the end of 1971 the US Civil Aeronautics Board announced that unless US planes were allowed operate into Dublin Airport they proposed to ban Aer Lingus from landing in New York. This provoked an instant reaction from the Shannon staff. Eventually an agreement was reached which allowed one US carrier to service Dublin Airport through Shannon. TWA was the designated airline.

In 1990, the U.S.-Ireland bilateral agreement was changed to allow Irish airlines to serve Los Angeles and additional US airlines to serve Dublin via Shannon. The most recent amendment in 1993 allowed airlines to provide direct transatlantic services to Dublin.

The Shannon lobby were outraged at the loss of the Stopover Status

In addition, some decisions were taken to deliberately harm Dublin, such as building its main runway to 2.637km, the shortest main runway of any capital city in Europe. This was done to try to force heavy aircraft to use Shannon instead, to partially unload, but many opted for Manchester instead.

But it's not just Dublin:

This would also mean that transatlantic routes could develop between the US and Cork International Airport, which is unable to develop scheduled flights due to the current Stopover Status at Shannon. Many in Shannon fear this would lead to the downfall of the airport as many passengers might choose to opt for Cork.

And if you wonder what's all the fuss about the U.S. troops/prisoners in Shannon, you might find this interesting

Financial figures released in April 2005 show that the airport lost €2.5m, whilst the transport of US troops made an income of €18m for the airport.

So the U.S. military and CIA is plugging a massive hole in the Airport's finances. Ouch.

Ireland has spent the last 50 years sacrificing everything at the altar of Shannon. Enough is enough.

The only question for me, is where does Mikey O Leary fit in? He wants to maintain the Shannon-Heathrow service, because he thinks it makes commercial sense to do so. Perhaps because Aldergrove Airport already has a number of services to Heathrow to compete with, in comparison with Shannon, where AL has the Heathrow market all to itself.

If true, this should be the only reason that the service continues. If it does not, in fact, make commercial sense to keep the link, it would be no harm to tell the professional whingers in Shannon that they're not going to get it all their way.

irish1

irish1 wrote:

So my post wasn't that laughable then??

Ah give over the one line jibs:mad: I never refered to to your post as laughable,I referred to it as funny.Expecting the green party to support extra air links to the same city and they actually supporting those extra air links is funny given they are often supporting the opposite and are supposed to be.

It seems Eamonn O'Cuiv is also in support of the links been kept, FF will have to work hard to settle this one and save face.

Lots of posturing by local T.D's.
Nothing unusual there.

HQvhs

I agree with SeanW, it makes no sense that Shannon is such a big Airport, the amount of people using it does not justify all the services it's given such as transatlantic flights.
In reality it is nothing more than a regional Airport. At least Belfast has growth potential.
I don't think it's right that Aer Lingus could be bossed around by the Government and a rivak airline, what would this say about our "free-market" economy?

great unwashed

Our government took 4 profitable flights per day from the West of Ireland and moved them to a different jurisdiction. The 'commercial decision' baloney is old hat at this point. Time to vote out FF in the West.

astrofool

Our government is now an airline? Is bertie chief pilot?

great unwashed

our gov is 25% airline.

bertie is not chief pilot but he could be a rear-gunner

mike65

Unions have blinked first, the strike could yet be called off. Though for most it'll make no odds as other arrangments have been made.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0820/aerlingus1.html

Mike.

LordSutch

Wouldnt it be ironic if 'British Airways' (headed by Willie Walsh as its new chief executive) filled the Shannon slots that Aer Lingus vacated .......