Marketing campaign seeks to prevent damage from Open Skies
At present, airlines operating transatlantic services have to provide one for one flights at Dublin and Shannon.
But the new Open Skies agreement being finalised between the US and EU will abolish this proviso and open up more US routes to European airlines such as Aer Lingus.
Critics of Open Skies claim transatlantic carriers will concentrate on the Dublin route to the detriment of Shannon.
Aer Lingus has committed to retaining its level of transatlantic passenger numbers at Shannon.
The Shannon Airport Authority has engaged Meet Limerick Shannon Conference and Sports Bureau to carry out a marketing blitz in the US over coming months to tap into new conference business.
The bureau is a Public Private Partnership based at Limerick Chamber of Commerce, one of its stakeholders.
Bureau executive Karen Brosnahan said their US marketing initiative is a result of a new working relationship with Shannon.
Ms Brosnahan said: “The Shannon Airport Authority are funding us to get out into the US market in the context of the whole Open Skies issue. We feel that now is the time to get out into the US market actively, showing people that
Shannon is a gateway to the Shannon region and the West of Ireland, and also to show what the region has to offer for conferences and events. If we get out there now it will help drive conference business from the US in the autumn of this year and the spring of next year.”
She said that when Open Skies becomes a reality, the airlines will make a decision about their presence in Shannon on the load factors they have this year and early 2007.
Ms Brosnahan said: “If we are not driving business at the moment we may as well forget about making it look attractive for US carriers going forward. Conference business, sports and incentive business is business that will come off peak and not just in the summer. You can get this business in October, November, March, April and May which is when you want to get your business into the region. We don’t want to end up in a scenario where we only have summer transatlantic access (at Shannon).”
The bureau has already organised a conference sales week in Boston.
Similar promotion weeks have been planned for New York and Chicago in coming months.
