Madam, - It was bad enough for Neal Roche, writing from California to get it entirely wrong (April 17th) but shame on what was once revered as the paper of record for publishing his erroneous information.
The facts are: 1. Far from being a "subsidised airport" as claimed by Mr Roche, Shannon Airport is the only airport in the west of Ireland that does not benefit from the subsidies which, according to the Davy Kelleher, McCarthy review carried out for the Department of Transport last year, run to €20 million a year. Of this, €9.6 million goes to subsidise air connections from western airports other than Shannon to feed Dublin flights, so that Dublin Airport is in fact the ultimate beneficiary at the expense of Shannon.
2. How Mr Roche got held up at Shannon for two hours due to the Shannon stop-over defies all logic and reason. Shannon has had no service - direct or indirect - from California since 1992. Aer Lingus operates its thrice-weekly Los Angeles service to and from Dublin with no stop at Shannon in either direction.
3. There is no necessity whatever for an intending passenger from the US to Ireland to stop at Shannon if Dublin is the desired destination. Since 1994, all airlines can operate flights direct from Dublin to the US and have only to operate an equal number of overall US flights directly to and from Shannon. The only reason why a passenger might have to travel via Shannon would be if the Dublin direct flights were filled and the airline opted not to so inform the passenger so that an extra seat through Shannon could be sold - but Shannon Airport cannot be held responsible for that.- Yours, etc.,
DERMOT WALSH,
Media Adviser,
SIGNAL,
(The Shannon
Airport workers' lobby),
Limerick.