Cityjet warns it has no concrete plans for Shannon

CAMPAIGNERS at Shannon Airport were yesterday warned a Cityjet offer to explore routes to Europe’s international hubs was not a quick-fix solution.

The Air France-owned business airline said it agreed to investigate Shannon’s potential market with Paris Charles de Gaulle after it was approached by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey last weekend.

The move is seen as a simple alternative for one quarter of the Shannon to London passengers who fly to Heathrow for international connections.

However, both Shannon Airport and Cityjet warned the possibility of new flights is at a very tentative stage.

Cityjet spokesman David Curtin said it had only agreed to look at the feasibility.

“We fly seven times a day from Dublin and everything is open and up for grabs but it will depend on the numbers involved.

“What we have said is we will examine the route, our chief executive will be back from holidays in a couple of weeks and nothing can happen before then,” he said.

The airline has never had a relationship with Shannon although the airport said it approached it with route suggestions in the past.

Shannon Airport’s external relations manager Claire McEnery said it was wrong of people to think the emergence of Cityjet was a done deal and if something was worked out it could take “weeks or months”.

“At the moment we have not even sat down and spoke with them. If people think there is some announcement due just because of the statements, they are getting carried away,” she said.

The airport said the possibility of a link with Charles de Gaulle will not stop it seeking to restore the Heathrow connection.

It is unlikely an airline will delve into the Shannon market if Aer Lingus is still serving the western seaboard’s business travellers with a Heathrow service.

Laurie O’Connor of the Shannon chamber said a flight to Paris will not be enough to fill the void.

“What we need is the four Heathrow slots back. When Ryanair was trying to buy out Aer Lingus the Government was able to pull rank but they don’t seem to want to do it now, which is appalling,” she said.

Cityjet owns 23 100-seater planes and employs 600 staff at its base in Swords.

Yesterday Mr Curtin said Ryanair’s dominance at Shannon would not be a factor in its decision.

“We are not going to be a low-cost airline. We are an airline that looks after the business community and it will be the business community we will be looking to serve if we decided to go to Shannon,” he said.

Cityjet said a decision will depend on how many of the former Heathrow passengers were destined for London or seeking onward connections.

Aer Lingus said 25% of its 350,000 passengers on its Heathrow service were connecting with other flights.

The emergence of the Paris option has come while the fallout after Aer Lingus’s removal of the Shannon-Heathrow service continues.

This morning Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary will fly into Shannon to host a hastily arranged press conference on the issue. He has already been vocal in his opposition to the Aer Lingus move.

Yesterday his spokesman would not give details of what he will add to the debate at this stage.