Aer Lingus has detailed plans to serve eight destinations from its new Belfast base, but its move to transfer London Heathrow services away from Shannon in the process has been described by local economic development officials as a “body blow” for the Shannon region.
Irish carrier Aer Lingus has detailed an initial eight-strong route network from Belfast International Airport, led by thrice-daily services to Heathrow and double-daily flights to Amsterdam, after this morning confirming its selection of the Northern Irish capital as its first non-Republic of Ireland base.
Alongside Heathrow and Amsterdam, Aer Lingus plans to operate five flights a week to Barcelona, four each to Rome and Malaga, thrice-weekly services to Budapest and Faro and twice-weekly flights to Geneva. The first three routes – Amsterdam, Barcelona and Geneva – start on 10 December. The Heathrow link will start on 14 January and the remaining four services follow on 25 February.
The new Belfast-Heathrow restores a scheduled link between the two airports after a more than five-year absence. But with slots constraints at Heathrow, Aer Lingus has opted to use slots currently deployed on the four times daily Heathrow-Shannon link. It argues Belfast-Heathrow represents an “accelerated growth opportunity, using its available fleet and slot resources”.
But while welcoming the company’s growth at Belfast – which will create more than 100 new jobs – Irish union Impact says it remains completely opposed to cutbacks in Aer Lingus’ Shannon operations
“Impact is concerned that the airline is unnecessarily turning its back on a profitable business of 300,000 passengers in the west of Ireland and the staff who service them,” Impact says in a statement. The union says it has sought a meeting with Aer Lingus to discuss today’s announcement.
Meanwhile the chairman of Shannon Development – which works to drive economic development in the region – has called for an immediate review into the decision.
“This decision will be a major body blow for the Shannon Region’s tourism and business communities, and given the strong Government commitment to the route just last year, I cannot understand why this decision has been taken,” says John Brassil.
“This route provided a critical air service for the whole west of Ireland. It carries almost 350,000 passengers each year and is a profitable air route with strong load factors. Given the critical nature of the links, we are astounded that Aer Lingus has taken this decision to withdraw from Shannon and move to Belfast.
The airport itself has expressed its “extreme disappointment” at the Aer Lingus decision, but says it will work to restore the link.
Shannon Airport executive chairman Pat Shanahan says: “We are concerned with the withdrawal of this route which has performed extremely well over many decades.
“We believe operating this route remains a highly attractive proposition for an airline and the airport authority will make every effort to replace this business as quickly as possible, albeit recognising the difficulties in finding an airline partner with the appropriate slot availability at London Heathrow.”
Heathrow was the only short-haul service operated by Aer Lingus from Shannon in west Ireland, although the carrier operates long-haul flights to Boston, Chicago and New York from Shannon. Irish budget carrier Ryanair also operates flights from Shannon to London Stansted and Gatwick.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
Source: FlightGlobal.com
