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Aer Lingus may regret Shannon decision TWO different
pieces on two different days in an Irish newspaper caught my attention
recently.
The first report concerned the news that Aer Lingus had done very badly
with its passenger numbers from Belfast.
I know it is early days yet but it seems that the company sold less that
one third of its seats in December. If the figures are correct it means
that less than 7,000 passengers travelled on the airline when the capacity
was over 21,500.
So much for the move making economic sense.
Some routes fared worse than others did of course but overall the figures
must be worrying for those who pushed so hard and fast for the move from
Shannon.
Since the figures only relate to December it means that the Heathrow flights
are not included as they had not started yet.
At the time of writing the numbers using the Heathrow route are apparently
not encouraging and I’m sure they will prove interesting.
The Shannon campaigners must feel a surge of justification and satisfaction
and who can blame them?
The second report brought news of a massive plan to create 1,000 new jobs
in Shannon over the next 15 years. Clare County Council had the plans
prepared for construction on a new 90-acre site and they sound both impressive
and ambitious.
If approved by Shannon Town Council and Clare County Council then I wonder
how soon work will begin. The cost is estimated at around ?400million
but I’m sure the final figure will exceed that because these things
usually do.
I can’t help but feel that Aer Lingus in the coming years might
yet regret its decision to abandon Shannon. There will be few tears shed
for them if they do. |
