Aeroflot talks on rights at Shannon

AER Lingus will begin negotiations with Aeroflot and Aer Rianta over the much disputed rights to the Shannon New York flight. After a meeting with the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, Aeroflot has indicated that it will be looking at introducing an extra Moscow New York flight, via Shannon.

At the same time, Aer Rianta staff will fly to Moscow next week in a bid to win new flights to Shannon. They will hope to attract regular flights from St Petersburg as well as other major cities in the former Soviet Union.

Aeroflot is seeking an agreement with Aer Lingus which would allow it to place its passengers on Aer Lingus flights from Shannon to New York. It also wants so called fifth freedom "rights" to be allowed to pick up Irish originating passengers on its own Shannon New York flight.

Aer Lingus is reluctant to allow Aeroflot any guaranteed seats on its New York flights.

The Russian airline has been in negotiations with the Department for some time about the need to pick up Irish originating passengers. The Department is seen as reluctant to intervene, given that Aer Lingus is obliged to operate a daily service to New York under the Cahill plan, the strategic plan for the State airline.

Aeroflot, however, believes that a "joint operation" with Aer Lingus, where both could access seats on the others planes, could be profitable for both.

It is to that end that the three parties will begin meetings.

Aeroflot has been fl in to New York, Chicago, Nassau (Bahamas), Mexico, Havana, Santiago, Lima Barbados and Tampa since last May. The New York flight is the only one where the Department has held back on the rights pick up Irish passengers, although its rights to Chicago and Tampa are only temporary.

A spokesman for the Department said that no formal request for fifth freedom rights had been made. He added that it was currently a commercial matter between the airlines.

Mr Valery Okulov, Aeroflot deputy chief executive, said the routes from Shannon were only profitable from May to September. The Latin American routes were the most profitable, he added.

One problem which the airline faced was that the smaller Russian airlines were not delivering enough passengers to transfer on to the larger Aeroflot planes at Shannon. It therefore needs Irish passengers to make up the numbers, particularly to New York, he said.

After the meeting with the Department, Mr Okulov insisted the airline had no plans to cut its operations in Shannon.

The airline has also confirmed its provisional winter schedule from Shannon. It will be cutting the number of its trans-atlantic flights to 14 from 25 a week.

However, the company said it would be ordering new Airbus and Boeing planes and, as a result, passenger numbers should not fall. It is also considering a second Moscow New York flight.

Mr Okulov also stressed that Shannon offers low service rates, landing fees and cheap hotel rates for staff and passengers.

Over the last few months the Minister, Mr Lowry, has announced a special £1.8 million annual budget as well as a special package on charges. Passenger numbers at Shannon are now up 18 per cent on the year, the Department's spokesman added.