Galway may be the State's fastest growing city, but its populace is still travelling to Dublin for flights abroad, according to Ryanair and Shannon airport. Lorna Siggins, Western Correspondent, reports.
In an effort to woo people from the west, the airline has announced eight new routes from Shannon starting in November.
It is also advertising a €20 reduction on all return tickets booked on the routes as an introductory offer.
The eight routes will link Shannon with Dublin, Birmingham, Leeds, Luton, Fuerteventura and Tenerife in the Canaries, Kaunas in Lithuania and Riga in Latvia.
However, three existing Ryanair routes, between Shannon and Bournemouth, Rome and Lodz in Poland, will be closed from November.
Other Ryanair/Shannon routes to and from Biarritz, Carcassonne, Milan, Murcia, Nantes and Venice will run on a summer-only basis between April and October.
The changes bring to 31 the number of destinations offered by Ryanair to and from Shannon and Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary yesterday urged people in the west to avail of their regional airport.
"Dublin airport is no longer about air fares but about how much you get screwed for car-parking - if you can find the car park," he said in Galway.
Martin Moroney, Shannon airport director, said that the "bloody road" to Shannon had deterred Galway commuters, but a new Ennis bypass made it accessible in just over an hour.
Shannon is now taking 1.7 million passengers annually and Ryanair is carrying over half of its terminal passenger traffic. The additional Ryanair routes would deliver a "visitor spend" of €250 million supporting 1,700 jobs in the west, Mr Moroney added.
Mr Moroney said that development of the new western rail corridor would make Shannon even more accessible.
Mr O'Leary added that car-parking in Shannon was "phenomenally cheaper" than Dublin airport, which, he said, had been "run by a crowd of deadheads for the last 20 years, supported by a crowd of deadheads in the Department of Transport".
Asked about the European Commission's impending decision on the Ryanair takeover bid for Aer Lingus, Mr O'Leary said that the company would appeal it to the European Court of Justice if it was turned down.
Ryanair has said it has bought a further 27 Boeing 737-800 aircraft worth $1.9 billion at list prices. it said the aircraft were scheduled for delivery between September 2009 and March 2010. The purchases will take to 308 Ryanair's 737s flying and on firm order.
