IT’S feared that Stobart Air, the flying partner to Aer Lingus, plans to quit its base at Shannon airport.
Staff at Shannon learned of the news earlier this week. Stobart Air – formerly Aer Arann – has said that nothing has been finalised yet, but the airline axed its Manchester route from the airport last month the day after Ryanair started operating on the same route.
It’s believed the airline will continue it’s other services from the airport.
The development represents the first negative news for the airport since it broke away from the Dublin Airport Authority at the beginning of the year.
Stobart Air operates services from Shannon to Bristol, Birmingham, and Edinburgh on behalf of Aer Lingus .
It’s understood staff will be offered the chance to move to Dublin with the option of redundancy for those who don’t want to move.
The airline enjoyed a 43 pr cent increase in passenger numbers at Shannon during September compared to the same month last year and passenger numbers during the summer were also considered to be good.
A Stobart Air spokeswoman confirmed this week that the airline is “reviewing” its operations at Shannon as part of the planning of its 2015 schedule.
A spokesman for Shannon Airport said: “We are in ongoing communications with Stobart Air and we await the outcome of their review”.
