Aer Lingus's cross-border stealth mission a failure
Monday August 13 2007
Yet everyone underestimated the capacity for panic in Shannon and the mid-west. Competitive frenzy begat aggressive hysteria as the week moved toward its conclusion.
The credibility of politicians, business leaders and union bosses proclaiming the end of the mid-west is nigh was among the early casualties.
With no coherent or reasonable justification available from the airline or the government, the region appeared to be facing an impending apocalypse
Although he was away from his Limerick constituency on holiday, the only cabinet minister in the region, Willie O'Dea, compared the airline's decision to the genocide of Oliver Cromwell.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey, said the government would not interfere with the airline's decision.
Then he observed that the locals were exaggerating the potential setback for the region when Aer Lingus withdraws the Heathrow-Shannon service.
At masses and church services across the mid-west yesterday, the airline's decision to end the Heathrow-Shannon route was deplored. And the Government was accused of colluding with the airline thereby undermining years of regional development.
Reason got a foothold yesterday and an explanation by Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion, did more to inform the public than the past week of the government's ducking and diving.
Maybe now the presentation of the argument will begin to eclipse the airline's decision to abandon its Shannon-Heathrow route.
Other issues long fudged and ignored are also being addressed: Labour costs are higher and work practices more restrictive in Shannon than in Belfast.
And rather than force a showdown with the unions at Shannon, the airline has cut and run to the North where it expects to double its profits compared to Shannon.
If it is to prosper and thrive in the Republic where it is the national airline, Aer Lingus must cut its costs by making deals on productivity, staff levels, efficiency and work practices.
Aer Lingus is love bombing the North. When Aer Lingus begins its service in January, customers can fly to Heathrow for €7 and Amsterdam for €12.
More than 100 jobs are immediately available -- 75 for cabin crew, 25 for pilots and 10 ground crew. And locals are queueing up to work for the irish airline.
The North has long been dependent on money from the London government and craves jobs in the private sector. And an extra 1m airline passengers means 1,000 jobs.
It is reckoned that between one and 1.5m passengers head south from the North to fly from Dublin each year for cheaper flights and a greater choice of destinations.
The northern passengers en route to Dublin use the state-of-the-art motorway that stretches from the border to Dublin airport. And, of course, only 20pc of the 7m tourists who visit the Republic each year bother going in the opposite direction to see Northern Ireland.
The ill-concealed jubilation, particularly among the triumphalist DUP in Belfast, makes it a harder deal to sell. But using Belfast as its hub means that Aer Lingus can become the national airline for more than 1.5m in the new North. And it will provide an upgraded service to citizens of the Republic in the border areas.
Alas, Limerick and Clare has a population of less than a fifth of the the North's population, although more than 50 other routes are available to the 300,000 or so people in Shannon's catchment area. And seven US destinations are still available from Shannon while links to Stansted and Gatwick offer flights to major European, African, Asian and North and South America airports. Another airline replacing Aer Lingus abandoned Heathrow-Shannon service would be the least bad solution for all parties concerned.
But if the Irish national carrier can use their Heathrow slots more profitably so too can their competitors. So, there is no quick and easy solution for the mid-west or the government.
Talk of legal actions to compel the airline to maintain its Heathrow-Shannon service is not convincing. Just as threats of an Aer Lingus boycott by people of the mid-west are unlikely to persuade the airline to change its corporate mind.
When it privatised Aer Lingus, the government gave up its authority to use the airline to further strategic and other national interests.
If the government bullied the management into doing its bidding, it is hard to see how the chief executive and chairman could credibly remain there.
After the disgrace of losing Willie Walsh and his management team at Aer Lingus, the government will remember Oscar Wilde's dictum.
And with more than a month before the Dail sits again, the coalition will be hoping that the Aer Lingus hysteria in the second week of August will be sorted out as speedily as the foot and mouth panic the week before.
