THE Department of Transport has been severely criticised after it admitted turning down a request from Shannon Airport to help finance more European routes in and out of the airport last year.
The department’s decision has emerged in a response from the Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, to a parliamentary question by Limerick Labour TD Conor Sheehan.
The Limerick TD described as “really disappointing” the transport department’s decision, further stating that “regional airports” were being “suffocated” by Dublin Airport.
Deputy Sheehan asked Minister O’Brien for an update on a request by the Shannon Airport Group in 2022, in which the airport sought financial support to establish a route from Shannon to airports such as Schiphol, Amsterdam, under a Public Service Obligation (PSO) in order to expand its operations into Europe and beyond.
In response, Minister O’Brien said his department considered the request in the context of the the Mid-Term Review of the Regional Airports Programme, the “potential impacts” on the Exchequer, “and also on similar routes operating on a commercial basis from other regional airports”.
Minister O’Brien said it was decided not to support the imposition of a government-funded PSO at Shannon, “given the cost to the Exchequer and the fact that any government intervention in this market could distort airlines competing on existing route”.
A potential development of an Exchequer funded start-up aid scheme “for airlines to support strategic route development to and from the regions, including Shannon”, is being considered, said Minister O’Brien.
The Minister said European Hub connectivity from Shannon Airport “is already provided by commercial services operating from Shannon to London Heathrow as well as the more recent commercial service operating to Paris Charles de Gaulle which commenced in September 2023”.
Deputy Sheehan said he did “not accept at all” that a government-funded PSO at Shannon would be too costly, and accused the State of neglecting Shannon Airport, which previously broke away from the Dublin Airport Authority under the Shannon Airport Group plc.
The Limerick TD said: “We are far too dependent on Dublin. More than 90 per cent of the country’s air traffic goes in and out of Dublin Airport. The government needs to rebalance this.”
“I’m not talking about taking connectivity from new destinations off of Dublin, this is about giving people outside of Dublin an enhanced connectivity into European hubs,” argued Deputy Sheehan.
Referencing the recent fire at Heathrow, which caused widespread flight delays and cancellations, the Labour TD said: “It shows that we are entirely dependent on Heathrow for international hub connectivity in the Mid West. It’s the only major international hub that we have multiple flights daily to.”
“Shannon (Airport) has the longest runway in Ireland, and it is one of the most under-utilised pieces of infrastructure in the state. A route from Shannon to Schiphol would be a game changer.”
Deputy Sheehan said approximately 40 per cent of US air passengers landing at Dublin Airport travel to the west of Ireland yet “major US employers in the Shannon and Limerick region want to get their executives in and out of the region in a more timely manner”.
He argued that a Schiphol (Amsterdam) – Shannon route would allow further connectivity into Shannon from the west coast to the USA, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
The Limerick TD argued that the Shannon-Charles de Gaulle (Paris) route “doesn’t suffice for connectivity as it only goes twice a week” and that, “for connectivity from a European hub to be effective at Shannon, the route would need to be going at least twice a day, the same way the Heathrow route goes”.
