A POSITIVE decision to revive the Shannon-Heathrow service would be warmly welcomed by all in the Mid West region, says Deputy Jan O’Sullivan. Emphasising the profitability of the Shannon-Heathrow service in the past, she has recommended to Aer Lingus to at least restore a partial service while simultaneously retaining their service from Belfast.
“Ryanair has recently stated that should they be successful in acquiring Aer-Lingus, that they would immediately restore the Shannon-Heathrow service. Obviously, Ryanair recognise the potential for profit in their willingness to restore this service,” she said.
Referring to the serious impact, both in terms of job losses and tourism numbers throughout the region that has resulted from the loss of the service, Deputy O’Sullivan said that connectivity and ease of access is a major determining factor when companies assess the suitability or otherwise of potential locations for establishing a base or factory.
“We’ve seen recently where major multinationals located in the area have announced redundancies in their workforce and without doubt, the issue of access is certainly playing a role in such decisions.
“With several new hotels in the Limerick area opening over the last few years, tourism numbers are crucial to the survival of these commercial operations and a positive decision by the Aer Lingus board, which I hope is imminent, to return the service would be warmly welcomed by everyone in this region.
