Walsh expects US visits take-off
Aer Lingus chief executive Willie Walsh, who was speaking at the IMI National Management Conference in the Great Southern Hotel, Killarney, said that he was of the opinion the discussion on bilateral trans-Atlantic route agreement between the US, and Ireland has been wrongly focussed on the Shannon stopover which he believes will come to an end sooner rather than later.
Mr Walsh said Irish-based airlines are restricted to just four US gateways, under the US/Ireland Bilateral Agreement.
These are New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles with a special agreement for flights to Baltimore.
"We will open a number of further gateways in the US if this situation changes. This could lead to a doubling of transatlantic visitors to Ireland within a short time scale with major benefit to Irish business and tourism.
"We have identified 16 extra destinations in the US we like to fly to including San Francisco, Seattle, Orlando, St Louise and Denver," he said.
Mr Walsh believes there is enormous potential in the development of further US gateways.
"Aer Lingus has the ability to increase passenger numbers from the US if we are given the chance. In 1994 we operated 34 flights per week to two US gateways, by 2001 this increased to 120 flights per week to five gateways," he added.
And he pointed out that in 2003 Aer Lingus will carry 11% more passengers with 33% fewer staff than the company employed in 2001.
Mr Walsh believes doubling the number of US visitors to two million could be achieved within three years or even faster if they had the resources to buy new aircraft.
Mr Walsh said Dublin airport doesn't have the capacity to cater for an increase in visitors of this magnitude and said Shannon could play a vital role in growing passenger numbers.
A major spin-off from increasing the number of US gateways will be making Ireland more attractive for US industrialists examining Ireland as a possible base for industrial expansion.
