Passengers need a choice of gateway

DES LONG (Irish Examiner letters, March 22) says I used emotive language on the future of Shannon airport (Letters, March 15) and the harm done to our other airports by the Shannon stopover until the open skies deal was agreed recently by the US and the EU.

Mr Long recalled the role of Shannon airport in our industrial development in the 1960s. That is exactly the problem. The airport is in a sort of time-warp ever since piston-engined and first generation jetliners needed it as a refuelling stop between Europe and North America.

That was Shannon’s heyday, but attitudes there have changed little since that time and now it relies on one Government handout after another — the more recent examples include a refurbished terminal with extra airbridges, the new road networks towards Limerick and Ennis and a powerful airport development company.

Other supports worth noting included the living quarters made available for Aeroflot crews in the 1980s and ‘90s, an aircraft painting hangar, the US immigration facility and recent deals with Ryanair.

All of this helps create the impression that Shannon is not only Munster’s gateway to America, but that of the entire country.

In this process, Cork airport was the victim of unfair State policy and the damage done to it has been considerable. The obvious example is the massive debt inflicted on it for the new terminal.

People from Cork, Kerry, Waterford and elsewhere all deserve choice as to their preferred gateway to North America. Why should Shannon get priority over Cork, Waterford and Kerry airports?

Last November, Shannon was able to offer up to five flights to airports serving the New York region on some days. For its part, Cork airport, free of debt, should set out to secure some of this traffic in addition to what it can generate itself as part of any credible business plan.

Thomas Whelan

61 Father Mathew Road

Turners Cross

Cork