Ryanair adds Shannon as European Base

Traffic

Fr have announced today that Shannon is to become its latest European base.
Four new 737-800s are to be based in Shannon operating a total of 14 routes.
MOL says FR will create 2000 new jobs and deliver 2 million pax within 5 years to Shannon annually.

por

From Ireland.com

Ryanair invests $240 million in Shannon
Last updated: 30-11-04, 13:46

Ryanair is to invest $240 million to create its twelfth major European base at Shannon Airport.
This base revolutionises the future growth of Shannon Airport
Ryanair chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary

The airline will fly four jets on 14 routes from the airport from May next year to Britain and Europe.

The company has guaranteed to deliver 1.3 million passengers in the first year and hopes to hit two million after five years.

Around 2,000 jobs will be created in the Shannon area, 200 of these as direct Ryanair employees.

Mr Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive, heralded the vision and tenacity of the new airport authority. "This base revolutionises the future growth of Shannon Airport," Mr O'Leary said.

"In less than two months since their appointment the board of Shannon has won this biggest ever single investment in Irish tourism, despite intense competition from seven other low cost European airports." The airline plans to fly to cities such as Paris, London, Barcelona, Milan and Stockholm.

It also claims the airport would become the new low fares centre of Ireland.

Good news for the west, while there is a empass on developing Dublin, good to see Ryanair making a effort and developing elsewhere.

ishmael whale

Grand. Now can we drop the stopover?

PoolDude

Just what I was thinking. This should improve negoatiations on that front and open up the possibility of more US destinations.

Metrobest

Well done Ryanair! It goes to show Seamus Brennan was a brilliant minister - he was right to break up the Air Rianta monopoly. But I'd like to see Ryanair open up a few new European routes from Dublin now; for an Irish airline Ryanair seems to concentrating its expansion abroad. Bad news for Irish tourism. Maybe if Bertie got the finger out and built the terminal we'd see more routes into Dublin. But Ahern is loath to offend his comrades in SIPTU

Traffic

I wouldnt call the little man a brilliant minister at all-always one report away from making a decision.

dmeehan

Traffic wrote:

I wouldnt call the little man a brilliant minister at all-always one report away from making a decision.

well obviously he made at least one (good) decision otherwise this thread wouldnt be here

sliabh

Brenan made a number of good decisions, but he also promised more than he delivered. You can argue that if he had been able to stay in the job for more than 4 years then he would have been able to get more done.

And as with all these things one minister can't take all the praise/blame. Many of the ideas Brenan wanted to implement were blocked by Finance and the PDs were pretty key to the Aer Rianta break up as well.

ishmael whale

Not a bad article from the Indo, going a little bit beyond the usual soundbites and recognising that reality that Dublin has an infrastructure deficit rather than the West.

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1296021&issue_id=11754

Shannon gets new routes bonanza but it might have been Dublin

FLYING into the Shannon Airport on a clear day gives passengers a picturesque view of the treasures of Co Clare. And it's a vista millions of new travellers will be able to enjoy as a result of yesterday's agreement to open 14 new Ryanair routes. The show-stopper deal will be a shot in the arm for tourism in the Mid-West and the spin-off benefits could be enormous.

However, Shannon Airport has also embraced the low-fares philosophy and all the cost cutting that goes with it. For many years the State-owned airports have been locked in battle with Michael O'Leary's budget airline. He maintains their costs are too high. And the airports have refused to budge. But since the restrictions of the old Aer Rianta regime recently lifted, Shannon has been able to act independently and reap the benefits.

The new deal will force the airport to face up to two fundamental problems - it has too many staff and it is losing about €5m every year. Shannon has suffered from a lack of growth in passenger numbers. The deal with Ryanair which was announced yesterday could bring about two million passengers through the airport. Ryanair will be paying bargain basement charges to bring passengers through Shannon. In return for the low fees, the carrier will bring a high volume of travellers in a classic budget airline formula.

Shannon could see a return from the number of passengers who make purchases in its shops, pay for parking and rent cars. At present Shannon employs 470 staff and an additional 100 seasonal workers. But if it is to cut its losses it will have to begin negotiations with unions, which could lead to 100 job losses. Under the legislation to break up Aer Rianta airports into stand-alone organisations the management teams were only allowed to introduce voluntary redundancies. Pat Shanahan, chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority, yesterday acknowledged that the airport must prepare for the transition to self-sufficiency, which could include job cuts.

The airport is working on a business plan which, like the controversial Aer Lingus plan, will involve significant cost reductions. Shannon Airport is facing up to the reality that not only will it become a hub for a low-cost operator but it will have to become a low-cost operator itself. The deal makes sense for the airport because it has capacity which has not been fully used until now.

Interestingly Mr O'Leary yesterday applauded former Transport Minister Seamus Brennan who was the architect of the break-up of Aer Rianta before he was transferred in the recent reshuffle.

Observers pointed out yesterday that the introduction of routes to Germany, Sweden, Britain, Italy and Spain from Shannon prompts the question why did Ryanair not do a deal with Dublin Airport instead? Ryanair answered that question when it said it wanted the Government to decide whether it will sanction a second terminal at Dublin Airport before it would open new routes from the capital. It has been effectively boycotting new routes from Dublin until the Cabinet sanctions a new terminal. Recently the airline n lampooned Taoiseach Ahern by ribbing him for "dithering" on the issue for 2½ years.
It is understood the Cabinet is likely to make a decision on this issue shortly. If the Government does back a private terminal at Dublin to relieve overcrowding, it will take years to build. In the meantime, consumers will be faced with massive congestion in Ireland's biggest airport.