There will have been some gloomy faces at Shannon Airport last week when Aer Lingus got its Belfast services off the ground with return flights to Amsterdam and Barcelona. In the coming months Aer Lingus will open up eight routes out of Belfast International Airport but it is the flights to Heathrow, commencing next month, which Shannon employees will resent most.
The Aer Lingus bombshell on its Shannon-Heathrow service was followed in due course by announcements from British Midland and British Airways that they had no intention of filling the void. However, while the switch in emphasis from the mid-west to the north-east undoubtedly is in Aer Lingus's best commercial interest, it is far from certain that the consequent damage to Shannon will be as bad as has been forecast.
Last Friday, Air France announced a new twice-daily service from Shannon to Charles de Gaulle which will be operated by its CityJet subsidiary. This service will not only connect Shannon with Paris but can provide connections to nearly 250 destinations throughoput the world which are served by Air France-KLM. Last month, Ryanair announced the creation of eight new routes from Shannon. The gateway continues to have significant trans-Atlantic traffic with the prospect of additional charter operations next year.
The mid-west region has responded to the threat to Shannon with commendable determination. However, there is much more which needs to be done. Next March sees the ending of the compulsory Shannon stop-over as a consequence of the Open Skies agreement.
While Shannon Airport has its own board of directors, responsibility for its operations (and for those of Cork) still rests with the Dublin Airport Authority. The DAA has funded a €40 million capital investment programme for Shannon and is understood to have set aside a further €12 million so it cannot be accused of of parsimony. But it makes no economic sense for the fortunes of Shannon or Cork to be controlled by a company which has the future of Dublin Airport as its primary consideration.
But a much greater influence on the future for Shannon - and all regions outside the greater Dublin area - will be government action.
The National Development Plan emphasised the importance of balanced and sustainable regional development but the government has failed to put up the policies which will deliver it. Meanwhile, as factory closures mount, the gap just gets wider.