SHANNON

[CCR]

Whilst passengers from northern parts of County Cork may use Shannon and many leisure passengers from throughout Cork use Shannon, the appalling road between Cork and Limerick makes it a 2 hour drive which deters many. Probably the majority of Cork passengers, especially business travelers fly to/from the US from Cork via Dublin, London and even Amsterdam.

Well done to Shannon with the increased business from Continental. A good achievement in the current recession

[Charlie Roy]

However, as none of Cork, Kerry, Galway or Knock airports have transatlantic services, Shannon becomes the nearest transatlantic airport for people living in Cork (481,000), Kerry (140,000), Tipperary (149,000), Galway (231,000), Roscommon (59,000) and Mayo (124,000) as well as being an option for people living in counties like Offaly (71,000) and Westmeath (79,000).

My cousin lives in Waterford and uses the Shannon Continental service one a month for business trips to the US. Always good loads.
(Of course Cork would be his airport of choice...)

[StephenM_SMC]

However, as none of Cork, Kerry, Galway or Knock airports have transatlantic services, Shannon becomes the nearest transatlantic airport for people living in Cork (481,000), Kerry (140,000), Tipperary (149,000), Galway (231,000), Roscommon (59,000) and Mayo (124,000) as well as being an option for people living in counties like Offaly (71,000) and Westmeath (79,000).

May be South Mayo is close enough for Shannon to be an option, but I would never dream of venturing towards Shannon from North Mayo, roads to Dublin are much better quality and easier to get to.

[fullrich]

This announcement is very encouraging but disappoints me when I think of how Aer Lingus have treated SNN over the years. This is another example of EI and missed opportunities. They never attempted to change their post 1pm departure out of SNN and also couldnt be bothered with preclearance because its too much trouble for them. They messed up LHR and now have messed up NY due as I have always suspected their lack of imagination and interest in making SNN work. If EI had pulled of the JFK early last year we would also have a daily Delta service instead. Wouldnt surprise me if they pulled it now as a result of this and maybe DL would resume thru the winter Well done CO.

[waffler]

Wake up fullrich.Your romantic notions never existed. Aer Lingus dont use custom pre clearance because they charged 10 euro per head,are you happy to pay that to save 10 mins in New York.Nobody owes Shannon anything. Its just another airport. Its use it or lose it.It takes an hour to fly to Shannon to Heathrow compared to 50 mins from Dublin so therefore it costs more.Are you happy to pay the extra ? if not you lose the service.This is the real world and if you boycott the irish airline they will not fly half empty aircraft to the USA for long.

[fivejuliet]

so waffler you are suggesting that we cull every route out of Ireland practically and just use Dublin because it will "cost less" because of a few minutes less flightime?

fullrich is right. Aer Lingus have never had a serious attitude to its service of SNN, apart from being there because of politics. If they had done us all a favour and dumped JFK long ago we might have indeed seen an improved Delta service who might actually be somewhat interested in it.

[waffler]

What I am saying is that airlines have to make money to survive and the reality is that Shannon does not attract enough passangers.If not enough passangers buy tickets, then the airlines pull out and move elsewhere.This applies to Aer Lingus, Ryanair,Delta and Continental.So if the people of the area want to keep their air services then buy a ticket.
I believe that Cork makes money for Aer Lingus so they will stay.Its not rocket science and its not personnal its just economics.

[fullrich]

Waffler I think you are missing the point. IF CO can make it work then why not EI. Rubbish about 10 minuites being more expensive , you obviously know nothing about operating costs of an aircraft. Isnt SNN 30 minutes closer to NY but its not reflected in the fares nor should it be. I will gladly pay 10 euro extra to avoid queues at JFK and fly EI but I assure you that is not the reason they wont take up Preclearnace. Its just too much work for them. No doubting where your from however. Cork airport complained many years ago about the differnce in purchasing EI tickets between DUB-LHR and ORK-LHR. They laughed when EI said Dublin was closer and so did I.

[Cyrano]

Originally Posted by fullrich

IF CO can make it work then why not EI.

Perhaps the fact that CO is flying to their hub and can therefore offer onward connections (and competitive through fares) to umpteen destinations, whereas EI is essentially offering a point-to-point service with some (non-through-priced) connections on JetBlue and a codeshare with United...for which JFK isn't a hub?

[EINNMAN]

US Preclearance granted for Civil Aviation aircraft

Some potential good news for SNN.
Press release from Dept. of Transport

The Minister for Transport, Mr Noel Dempsey T.D. today (28 January 2010) announced the opening up of Shannon Airport for preclearance for U.S. bound private aircraft. This follows on from the introduction of commercial preclearance at Shannon which has been operating very successfully since August 2009. Minister Dempsey said;

‘Following negotiations at official level between the Irish and U.S. administrations and having raised the matter personally with the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Ms Janet Napolitano I am delighted to be able to announce today that the way is now cleared for the introduction of preclearance for private aircraft at Shannon in the coming weeks.’

Preclearance for commercial flights to the U.S. from Shannon was introduced on 5 August last and has proven to be very successful for the airlines that are utilising it. Essentially preclearance means that U.S. bound passengers clear all U.S. entry controls before boarding the aircraft, thus ensuring that on arrival there is no further official processing and passengers are treated as if they had arrived from a U.S. domestic airport. Minister Dempsey went on to say;

‘I see the extension of preclearance at Shannon to private aircraft as a very positive development for Shannon Airport and for the Mid-West region in general. Because of its location, a significant number of U.S. bound private aircraft already use Shannon for refuelling. I am confident that with this development there will be a significant increase in these numbers in order to take advantage for preclearance.’

The Minister paid tribute to the U.S. Ambassador for his help in clearing the way for the introduction of preclearance for private aircraft.

‘I want to say a particular word of thanks to Ambassador Rooney for his interest in preclearance and for his role in ensuring that today’s announcement has been possible.’

Ends

[Just a spotter]

The Irish Times is reporting that EI are considering new routes via the RE tie up.

AER LINGUS will explore the possibility of launching new short-haul routes from Shannon airport, which has seen its traffic numbers collapse in the recession. The airline’s chief executive, Christoph Mueller, indicated that any new short-haul routes would be operated by its regional service, run by Aer Arann, and could involve flights to the UK and other airports in Ireland.

JAS

[Tom the Tenor]

Isn't that just great! Yet more preferential treatment for snn airport. Any ol' knack at all will do. As predicted after a bloody nose from Ryanair snn gets the FF politicos on the bandwagon again for yet more favoured treatment.

It just goes on and on.

This stinking country is so morally bankrupt. A nation of gombeen politics where workers on minimum pay are left with the bill for what seems everything these days.

[Charlie Roy]

Surely Tom you can't begrudge Shannon a couple of turboprop routes to Birmingham and Manchester

[Shanwickman]

Everybody should know by now that all new routes must be from ORK or else
TTT is going to be upset.

[Tom the Tenor]

No, not all - they can send as many turboprops, 737-800s and 757s as they want between snn to BHX, MAN, NYC, BOS etc and use as much as the Preclearance CBP as they want too - it is just such a pity that Dempsey and his Department are not as readily around to help out Cork get simple things like getting snow cleared as quick as possible rather than sitting and waiting for it to melt or trickier items like helping Cork get at least a fair shot at a North Atlantic route without hindrance from the side of darkness.

What is the Ambassador in Washington doing to give Cork Airport a hand?

[Charlie Roy]

Liverpool and Edinburgh have reappeared in Ryanair's booking engine for the Summer. Both 3 times weekly (Wed, Fri, Sun). Both routes will be operated by aircraft from the respective bases.
I wonder will anymore routes become unaxed? Is this a move to frighten Aer Lingus / Aer Arann off UK regional routes, or would it have happened anyway?

[en2r]

I wonder will anymore routes become unaxed? Is this a move to frighten Aer Lingus / Aer Arann off UK regional routes, or would it have happened anyway?

Aer Lingus did say that they would be interested in operating some routes from Shannon with Aer Lingus Regional (Aer Arann) so perhaps the strategy is to operate a token 3 weekly service service on a number of the UK routes to issue a warning to Aer Lingus that they can relaunch services as easy as they can cancel them, and thus dissuade them from opening any new routes from Shannon.

[iwhak]

This is worse possible scenario for SNN. FR pulls most of its services. EI announce an interest in filling some of the void, then FR row back with a token return to block EI. I hope SNN will enforce full charges on these routes, as their incentive scheme prohibits them from offering discounts to FR on routes operated in the past year. Another bad day for SNN - ironically NOC and KIR are in the same boat.

[B257]

Still money to be made on possible BHX BRS routes..

[fullrich]

Well even the threat of new routes will encourage FR to reintroduce some more routes but I think the sun routes are gone for a while as the other airports will pick up the slack. SNN maybe better off with FR paying their fair share on a few routes rather than paying half nothing on alot of routes.