SHANNON AIRPORT Authority chairman Brian O’Connell confirmed yesterday that Shannon is abandoning the low-cost model, saying it is unsustainable.
At a briefing at Dromoland Castle yesterday, Mr O’Connell launched the airport’s strategy to 2015, saying it is aiming to increase passenger numbers to 2.5 million over the next five years.
Mr O’Connell said its target “is realistic and achievable” and that the strategy “is solid, well thought through and very definitive”.
However, the five-year target is 300,000 less than the 2.8 million passengers that went through the airport in 2009 in the final full year of a five-year Ryanair deal that ended last May.
The ending of the deal coupled with the recession is likely to see Shannon passenger numbers fall by a million this year to 1.8 million.
According to airport director Martin Moroney, the 2.5 million target for 2015 represents a 28 per cent increase on 2010’s projected outturn and “is a minimum target”. Mr O’Connell said: “We have had a strategy for many years of being low-charge in relation to passenger movements through the airport. It is not sustainable.”
Mr O’Connell said Ryanair wanted charges at a level that were “ridiculous”. He said: “You couldn’t even consider it.”
The airport’s head of marketing, Declan Power, said: “There is no quick fix to Shannon. There is no white knight or foreign carrier going to come in and set up a base. That applies to Irish aviation and not just to Shannon.”
Shannon is due to make a loss this year and next year. Asked when the airport expects to return to profitability, Mr O’Connell said “it will take three to four years to turn it around, depending on capital investment that is needed over that period of time”.
He expressed confidence that there will be a positive outcome to a proposal by the Lynxs Group to the Dublin Airport Authority to establish a cargo hub at Shannon.
Mr O’Connell said: “There are about 3,000 people currently employed in logistics in the Shannon region. The creation of a logistics centre at Shannon, and the development of a marine transportation hub on the estuary, could potentially lead to the creation of further employment for 5,000 people in logistics and related high-end manufacturing in the wider region over the next 10-15 years.”
He refused to be drawn on whether the Shannon authority board will propose Shannon’s independence in a business plan to be lodged with Government.
