Other airports pay for Shannon ‘soft landing’

THERE has been saturation coverage of Shannon airport in the national media for weeks now following Aer Lingus’s decision to end flights from there to Heathrow next January.

While the media circus following the announcement was entirely predictable, the sheer relentlessness of the Shannon public relations machine has been a revelation.

This is in stark contrast with the way other airports in the State have been treated by successive governments over the years.

In all that time they have had to endure nod-and-wink State support for Shannon which has been cosseted at their expense.

Just consider the infamous Shannon stopover in the context of the mess at Dublin airport, which has been bursting at the seams for years, and the unresolved debt issue at Cork airport.

The Dublin print and broadcast media have treated the Cork airport debt issue with little more than a snigger compared to their persistent coverage of the Shannon-Heathrow saga.

It begs the question: would 5,000 Cork people march on Patrick Street for an independent, debt-free Cork airport and would the local bishops of all denominations lead their respective flocks from the front?

I doubt it on both counts.

How much do Cork people value their own airport, or is it a case with some that they would prefer a drive to Shannon in the dead of night to save a few euro on a flight rather than support services from their own city?

In view of the fired-up mood in the mid-west, it would be no surprise if every conceivable excuse was put forward to stop Cork airport from ever getting a transatlantic flight in order to protect the interests of Shannon.

Yerrah, what harm as there is yet more rain due in Cork soon and the planes will be full.

Isn’t that great?

Next stop Amman, anyone?

Thomas Whelan

61 Father Matthew Road

Turners Cross

Cork