Shannon airport is performing ahead of expectations and is on course to deliver between 75 per cent to 80 per cent of pre-pandemic passenger numbers this year.
That is according to the CEO of the Shannon Group, Mary Considine who told the June meeting of Clare County Council "we are confident that we are on the right road to recovery" due to the pent up demand that is there is for air travel".
In 2019, the airport recorded passenger numbers of 1.7 million and Ms Considine said that the airport is hoping for 75 per cent to 80 per cent this year of pre-pandemic traffic.
She said: “We are doing much better than we would have anticipated at the start of the year."
An 80 per cent projection of pre-pandemic passenger figures would deliver passenger numbers of 1.368 million for 2022.
She said “we have definitely felt the bounce” at Shannon.
Ms Considine also urged maximise use of Shannon’s three Heathrow slots as the guarantee concerning the slots expires in September. Ms Considine said that if the routes are properly supported, there will be never be a question mark over their viability.
Competition
In his address, newly appointed chair to the Shannon Group, Conal Henry told councillors that Shannon "is in rude health”.
He said: "It is a very, very well run business, is financially resilient and has very strong potential."
However, Mr Henry said:"The challenge for the airport is the challenge for aviation in Ireland. We have a very imbalanced aviation sector."
"We have 87 per cent of traffic going through one airport and 13 per cent going through five airports and four of those five airports are competing for that 13 per cent – effectively undermining their ability to compete with the Dublin offering."
He said: "So you have this weird situation of people driving past three airports to take flights from Dublin. This is not suitable for any State and something that must be addressed.
"It is a policy challenge and there is a real need to re-address national aviation policy to look at how we better have a competitive aviation proposition in the State."
Mr Henry strongly resisted a call from the floor that the Shannon Group chair adopt an executive role in running the airport. He said: "The last thing Shannon airport needs is more management - it just needs a clear plan supported by all the stakeholders.”
Mr Henry said that has great confidence in the management team at Shannon and stated there is a mistaken belief that if you throw more managers at a problem it will get solved.
He said: "That is not how it works, it will just create more noise."
Earlier, Ms Considine said that Ryanair now flies to more destinations out of Shannon that it did before the pandemic.
Ms Considine also pointed out that for the first time since 2010, Shannon has a daily transatlantic link to Boston and New York all year round.
Ms Considine said that through economies of scale flights out of Dublin can be cheaper than Shannon for passengers but urged passengers to examine the total costs of travelling out of Dublin.
