BMI is unlikely to move into Shannon slots

Laura Noonan

August 08 2007 04:48 AM

THE chief executive of British Midlands, the airline that is favourite airline to replace Aer Lingus at Shannon, has said his company is "unlikely" to step into the breach.

"We'd certainly evaluate the route on its merits," Nigel Turner told the Irish Independent. "But we'd need to understand very clearly why we could do any better than Aer Lingus had done.

"I don't think it would be one for us really because if the established Irish carrier can't make it work, then how would we?"

He added that if the Shannon Airport Authority came up with "some support", BMI would certainly look at any package closely.

Meanwhile, Shannon Airport is expected to turn its attention to attracting flights to either Amsterdam's Schipol or Paris' Charles de Gaulle, as a link to the London hubs looks increasingly unlikely.

"There's no reason why the people connecting through Heathrow can't connect through somewhere else," said one source.

Aer Lingus commercial director Enda Corneille ruled out the national carrier's involvement in either of these services.

Meanwhile Ryanair's Michael Cawley said his airline had not considered launching any additional London services from Shannon.

Figures from the Shannon Airport Authority show that just 33pc of Aer Lingus' 350,000 Shannon/Heathrow passengers connect through Shannon, so arguably the other 67pc could be just as well served through other London routes.

Services

However, Cawley said his airline's services between Shannon and Dublin were already 90pc full and would not be able to pick up the slack.

His comments came on foot of a letter from Ryanair to the Taoiseach.

This is urging the Government to pool its 25pc with Ryanair's 25.2pc to form a majority and force Aer Lingus to reconsider pulling the Shannon/Heathrow link.

Cawley denied that the letter was mischief making. "It's a very serious offer," he said.

"What‘s in it for us? We think that losing the Heathrow service is a significant downgrading for Shannon, which is a very big base for Ryanair. We've 60pc of the traffic down there, so we don't want to see the airport downgraded."

Cawley also rejected the suggestion that Ryanair's letter had put the Government in a difficult position.

"It's not an awkward position at all," he said.