Cullen to negotiate Shannon 'open skies' agreement with US

The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, is to travel to the US today to renegotiate the bilateral agreement between the two countries that will see the end of the Shannon stopover.

Mr Cullen said last night that he wanted a transitional period before the introduction of a full "open skies" policy, but would not say how long a transitional period he would be seeking.

"The US position has hardened very substantially in recent months, where they want full open skies straight off, with an end to all bilaterals without any transitional period. That is unacceptable from my perspective.

"I will be stating very, very forcefully that we need a transitional period for Shannon because I will be making it absolutely clear that the airport is a key component of the State's airport infrastructure."

Martin Moroney, director of Shannon Airport, said that opportunities will arise for Shannon in a new open skies regime.

However, he appeared not to hold out much prospect for Mr Cullen negotiating a transition period of five years for Shannon to open skies.

"Five years? We have to be realistic. There are other forces, particularly US ones who wouldn't want that and Aer Lingus wouldn't want that.

"However, an overnight change would be very difficult to handle." Mr Moroney said.

However, a spokesman for Signal, the Shannon workers' lobby, hit out at Mr Cullen, accusing him of rushing into a "panic deal" with the US over open skies.

He said: "We are disappointed with Mr Cullen. An economic impact study (EIS) should have been carried out and he is going to the US without knowing from the various interests in the region on what needs to be done."