O’Leary laments Shannon rebuff

RYANAIR chief executive Michael O’Leary has said if Shannon Airport doesn’t want to be competitive, it is its own loss.

Mr O’Leary made his comments in a letter where he reveals that the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) turned down Ryanair’s offer of renewing its five-year deal when Ryanair demanded that it pay €1 per departing passenger. That charge was 50% down on the €2 Ryanair paid per passenger in its deal with Shannon that expired last April.

Largely as a result of the Ryanair reduction in services, Shannon Airport is projecting a 28% drop in passenger numbers this year from 2.8 million to 2 million. The €1 charge is 75% lower than the SAA’s standard passenger charge of €4 on short-haul routes, though substantial discounts are available to operators of new routes.