Paris flights win backing of Clare businesses

BUSINESS interests in the Shannon region have said they will put their full weight behind the Cityjet service to Paris and prove Aer Lingus was wrong to pull its Shannon to Heathrow flights.

Yesterday, multi-industry lobby group the Atlantic Connectivity Alliance said it will fully support the new flights to Paris Charles De Gaulle.

Alliance spokesman Michael Vaughan said business people are looking forward to the opening of the Cityjet service on February 4.

However, he said the alliance, formed in the wake of Aer Lingus’s decision to move its London Heathrow service to Belfast, would not forget the perceived abandonment of the region by Aer Lingus and government. “It is a sad day in the history of Shannon Airport and a major setback for the economy of the western regions,” he said.

“It still beggars belief why a profitable route like this should be abandoned and this is a question which has not been answered to our satisfaction.”

Yesterday, Cityjet said ticket sales from the business sector has been strong since it announced daily flights from Shannon to Paris in December.

A spokesman for the airline said the start of its service has also been helped by full planes from Shannon on the weekend of the Irish rugby team’s Six Nations match against France in Paris.

However, worries still persist for jobs linked directly with the London region.

For the past five decades the early-morning Shannon to Heathrow flight has passed over a stream of cars carrying workers to start 8am shifts in the adjoining industrial estates. It was fears for these workers, rather than passengers on the Airbus A320s, which prompted the greatest fears among community leaders.

Employers said without easy connections to onward international destinations from Heathrow, investment would be scaled back and jobs would be lost.

Yesterday, Maria Kelly from the Limerick Chamber said although concerns have been alleviated by the introduction of the Cityjet link, the loss of the London service would still bite.

“Had the Heathrow service ended without anything else being in place we would have been seriously worried. It is not quite Heathrow, but Charles De Gaulle is a big international airport,” she said. “But this is just the start; the whole Heathrow controversy made us realise we need more connectivity because Paris alone will not fulfil the needs of the region.”

Ms Kelly said the chamber’s members were still angry at government handling of the matter.

“There is still a very bitter taste whenever the subject is brought up,” she said.