The travelling public will, no doubt, be cheered by the emergence of greater competition on transatlantic routes between Ireland and the United States and the new direct Aer Lingus service between Dublin and Los Angeles. The state airline will face competition to JFK in New York after Delta's decision to launch a year-round service from this summer.
With Continental and other airlines also offering services out of Dublin and Shannon, the hope is that the restrictive practices and very high fares - a feature of transatlantic travel out of Ireland until relatively recently - may finally disappear. The increase in transatlantic travel out of Ireland over the past five years has been staggering; indeed, some seasoned observers believe that it is this more than any other factor which is responsible for the turnaround in the fortunes of Aer Lingus. Passenger numbers from both Dublin and Shannon to the US surged by some 20 per cent last year; this week, Aer Lingus announced a 14 per cent increase in seat capacity on transatlantic services. The addition of Los Angeles means that Aer Lingus will now operate 46 transatlantic flights every week. Only six years ago, by contrast, the company provided just 15 flights per week and it had no year-round daily service to New York.
The increasing competition on the transatlantic route comes as Aer Lingus intensifies its search for a strategic partner; a board recommendation to Government on the issue is expected by March. The importance of this decision can scarcely be exaggerated: Aer Lingus has clawed back from the brink of insolvency in 1993 to a situation where it is generating £40 million in annual profits. The challenge now is to secure an alliance which maximises the State airline's potential. It is to be hoped that the Shannon issue does not complicate matters. The stopover rule may have been diluted in recent years but it still involves a 50/50 arrangement; every transatlantic crossing which lands in Dublin must be matched by a landing in Shannon. The concern is that this kind of protectionist measure could inhibit Aer Lingus' efforts to find the right partner, especially in the United States where any American airline seeking an alliance with Aer Lingus will have to prove that this State allows full and free competition and an `open skies' policy. The Government might now usefully consider whether the stopover requirement serves the long-term interest of Aer Lingus - or Shannon itself. Shannon has shown great resilience since the original stopover rule was modified. Traffic has increased by some 50 per cent. And only this week, Aer Rianta reported a record year for passenger and cargo traffic at the airport. The Minister for Public Service, Mrs O`Rourke, has pressed ahead with deregulation in the communications sector, ending Telecom's monopoly before she was required to do so by the EU. There is a strong case for the same kind of brave decision-making in relation to the Shannon stopover.