NET RESULTS:Business people are calling for a Dublin-San Francisco direct flight, writes KARLIN LILLINGTON
A GROUP of Irish business people has begun a campaign to restore a direct Ireland to Silicon Valley flight, with a Facebook page dedicated to the issue getting close to 200 members within days of it being set up.
The Facebook group – “Direct flight – Ireland to Silicon Valley” – was launched by senior Irish technology executive John Hartnett, the president of the Irish Technology Leadership Group in Silicon Valley.
He has also initiated a discussion on the topic within the Innovation Ireland discussion group on business social networking site Linked-In.
Hartnett has pointed out that the loss of the flight is discouraging and possibly a dealbreaker for business possibilities running in two directions – US companies that might want to do business in Ireland or set up operations, or Irish companies looking to do business or base themselves in Silicon Valley.
When Aer Lingus shut down its San Francisco flight last autumn, business people reliant on that commute were forced back into tedious long-haul stopover journeys of about 20 hours in total, rather than a direct 11-hour flight.
At about that time, I had run into the Enterprise Ireland Leadership 4 Growth group of chief executives heading for Stanford University, queuing at Dublin airport to board one of the last remaining direct San Francisco flights. The ending of the route was a concern raised by several of them.
I had also spoken to serial entrepreneur Ray Nolan and Google’s director of finance and business intelligence, David Martin, who also had also voiced concern about the loss of a direct flight.
Perhaps given the improved financial profile of the airline recently, reinstating a west coast link might go back on Aer Lingus’s agenda. No one is holding their breath, though, and the business people posting into the Facebook and Linked-In discussions clearly think a US airline is a more likely candidate.
Certainly, with the new terminal coming on line at Dublin airport with full American immigration clearance facilities, it would seem potentially attractive for one of the big US airlines to put in a flight.
A connection through Dublin with immigration clearance could entice passengers outside of Ireland. If you live in the UK in a regional city, for example, how much more attractive is it to make a flight of similar length to Dublin, rather than deal with the nightmare that is Heathrow or Gatwick? You would get the added bonus of not having to queue at passport control in San Francisco or San José.
Both San José and San Francisco have demonstrated eagerness for a direct Dublin flight.
There was a long-standing rivalry between the two to try to woo Aer Lingus in and deep disappointment in San José when the flight went to San Francisco.
The fact that a report done for the Dublin Chamber of Commerce more than a decade ago indicated the strong viability of a direct Dublin-San Jose flight can only have made Aer Lingus’s choice even more frustrating to San José.
According to those familiar with the report, there was solid interest from American Airlines to set up on the route. However, the Irish government of the time insisted on the Shannon stopover – perhaps the most stupid and most business- and tourism- unfriendly requirement ever thought up by Irish politicians.
A consideration of technology industry business relationships and growth that almost certainly would have happened in Ireland all through the boom time if there had been a direct flight from the late 1990s boggles the mind now. But no: a shallow regional political decision propping up a relatively small number of jobs meant that such national considerations and potential long-term economic strength were ignored.
Sure, it would have been fine to send some US flights through Shannon, but the idiotic notion that every single US flight had to land in Shannon first has to rank up there in the list of case studies on how petty regional politics trump and damage national interest far too often in this country.
It is a shame that an airline (or two) did not get the chance to make a success of a direct Dublin-Silicon Valley route over a decade of a strong economy.
If the route had been established then, it would likely have been developed into a self- sustaining link. Instead, Aer Lingus finally got the chance to set up the route just in time for a severe recession and a dive in overall passenger numbers, making the route unviable for it.
Whether the route will come back into being now in more difficult times with a different airline remains to be seen.
Times have changed, but as the business people lobbying for its re-establishment say, there are many economic positives that can be put forward in support of such a route, which hopefully will appeal to one of the big airlines.
They say they intend to formally pursue options to get this route re-explored.
If the route cannot be re-established, there is absolutely no doubt that Irish hopes to develop economic links to Silicon Valley will suffer. The lack of a direct route just makes this journey too exhausting and inefficient.
Meanwhile, I hope those in government responsible for kow- towing to the Shannon stopover at the time of the initial report fully realise the missed opportunities – and the inconceivable loss to the Irish economy – their short-sightedness has brought.
