AEROFLOT, the Russian airline was yesterday told that it has been granted fifth-freedom rights to pick up and set down local passenger traffic between Shannon and New York.
Currently Aeroflot, under the Ireland-Russia Air Agreement, enjoys fifth-freedom rights at Shannon only for flights to Central and South America and for Washington and Miami, where Aer Lingus does not operate. It also has full rights on a temporary basis to Chicago.
The announcement was made by the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Dukes, after a sod-turning ceremony for a new £23.5 million terminal at the airport.
The decision ends a restriction on the Russian airline offering return seats to and from New York, but the concession allows the company to sell only 60 passenger seats on three services a week in summer and two in winter.
The Minister said that it was only after extensive consultations with Aeroflot, the Russian Federal Aviation Authority, Aer Lingus, Aer Rianta, the Shannon Marketing Consultative Committee and SIGNAL, the workers' action group, that he decided to grant the request.
He said Aeroflot contributed about £12 million annually and generated some 200 jobs directly and indirectly. The new rights, he said, would introduce a further element of competition into services from Shannon, air services and tourism.
Mr Boris Krivchenko, Aeroflot's Irish manager, welcomed the announcement but said that if it had been decided two years ago when Aeroflot had 45 flights a week through Shannon it would have been more rewarding and would have instilled confidence into the other CIS airlines. Now, he said, they were down to I4 flights a week, but he added: "It is better late than never."
Mr Dukes said that the application for freedom rights came from the Russian government only last September.
Mr Tom McInerney, general manager for Aer Lingus at Shannon, also welcomed the decision.