Ryanair announces eight new routes from Shannon after axing of travel tax

Shannon yesterday heralded the first big dividend from the budget announcement to abolish the €3 travel tax, when Ryanair announced eight new routes which will bring 300,000 additional passengers through the airport next year.

The routes will open next April when the travel tax ends.

Michael Cawley, deputy chief executive of Ryanair told a press conference at Shannon, they will carry an additional one million passengers through Irish airports next year due to the ending of the travel tax.

Mr Cawley said: “The scrapping of the travel tax will help restore Ireland’s competitiveness and attractiveness to overseas visitors from the UK and continental Europe in particular. Having met with all five of the main Irish airports, we hope to announce further... traffic growth plans over coming weeks.”

Passenger figures at Shannon fell from 3.1m in 2008 to 1.3m last year. Ryanair represented 2m of the 3.1m passengers at Shannon in 2008.

This summer, transatlantic passengers grew by as much as 40% month on month, compared to 2012.

Mr Cawley said the new tourism business through Shannon will be more significant than anything the Gathering produced.

The eight new routes announced yesterday include Berlin, Faro, Fuertaventura, Krakow, Munich, Nice, Paris and Warsaw.

Neil Pakey, Shannon Group plc CEO, said: “This [announcement] is a huge boost to the airport and the wider region... This represents particularly good news for 2014 with the Wild Atlantic Way project coming on stream and also Limerick National City of Culture here on our doorstep. Now that we have secured these services it is essential that they are promoted heavily abroad and by our tourism agencies, whom we will work closely with, and that our outbound market here takes advantage of them.”

The new Shannon Group plc has been given a target by the Government to increase the airport’s passenger numbers to 2.5m within five years.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan said Ryanair’s announcement was a boost to tourism and business in the region: “I would like to thank Ryanair for their prompt and positive response to Budget 2014.”