WITH a reduction in Ryanair services impacting heavily on routes to London, Birmingham and Edinburgh, Shannon Airport needs a plan of support that will cover coming years.
That’s according to Clare Sinn Féin TD Violet Anne Wynne who said that while €10.1m was allocated to Shannon under Covid support schemes, this must now be extended with a long term plan to get the airport numbers up in the wake of the pandemic.
“Shannon Airport has had the bad luck of falling between the cracks of statutory support. It hasn’t received the same level of supports as the other state airports that are still under the remit of the Dublin Airport Authority,” Deputy Wynne claimed.
She said that permanent inclusion in a Covid support scheme would allow the airport to attract more resources and funding to allow them to remain buoyant in very challenging times.
“Forward planning and necessary developments would occur on the back of multi-annual funding”.
“Footfall in Shannon has been decreasing since 2008, hit its lowest in 2012 and has only marginally increased since then.
“Obviously, consistent state support is key to returning activity at Shannon Airport to its former glory and by doing so, benefitting the Midwest region in its entirety,” Deputy Wynne added.
