BA's Irish net revenue is €85m

British Airways generates €85 million in net revenue from Ireland each year, making Ireland the fifth-biggest contributor in its European network, writes Ciaran Hancock, Business Affairs Correspondent.

"It is a significant part of our business. We get a lot of long-haul business from Ireland," chief executive Willie Walsh said at a press briefing for the Irish media in London yesterday in advance of BA's move to Heathrow's new £4.3 billion Terminal 5 facility.

BA carries about 275,000 passengers from Ireland each year. About 60,000 fly on its Dublin to Gatwick service, which operates four times a day. This offers passengers onward connections to 13 destinations in the United States and the Caribbean.

BA said that about 215,000 passengers fly from Ireland to Heathrow from Dublin, Cork and Belfast via a code-sharing arrangement with Aer Lingus and a deal with UK-based BMI. These airlines earn about €15 million a year in commission from BA for providing feeder passengers for its long-haul flights.

BA said that the number of passengers from Ireland using its first-class or premium services had shown double-digit growth last year, although the number using its economy services was flat.

Mr Walsh said that BA would consider Dublin as a future destination for its new transatlantic subsidiary, Open Skies, which will be launched later this year. The new airline will fly between the United States and continental Europe and has been set up by BA to maximise the opportunities presented by the "open skies" deal between the EU and the US, which begins at the end of March.

Mr Walsh said there was not "any possibility" of BA launching new services to Ireland from Heathrow due to slot constraints at the UK airport. He added that "no genuine effort" had been made by anybody to encourage BA to fly from Shannon to Heathrow.

Mr Walsh said that Aer Lingus had been right to axe the Shannon service and switch its focus to Belfast. "It was a brave decision because there was always going to be a political element to it," he said. "I have no doubt it will prove to be the right decision."