Aer Lingus cuts key US routes

Aer Lingus said it will cut seat capacity on its winter long-haul services by about 25 per cent compared with 2008 in a bid to cut costs.

Services from Dublin to Washington and San Francisco will be suspended from October 25th, while flights from Shannon Chicago will be suspended from September 1st., the airline said today.

The airline said average long fares were down 19 per cent in the first quarter due to the deterioration in economic conditions and weak consumer confidence on both sides of the Atlantic.

It said the four weekly direct flights between Shannon and New York remains under close review. The changes, reported in this morning's Irish Timesare likely to prove controversial, particularly in the tourism sector in the Shannon region which is reliant on visitors from North America.

Lobby groups in the west of Ireland are also likely to be fearful of the potential negative impact on investment by US companies in the region if direct links between the two countries are diminished.

The cuts will take effect in late October and run until March and any recommencement will be subject to review.

US carrier Delta Airlines yesterday said it was pulling its scheduled transatlantic services from Shannon from October. However, the Continental Airlines route to Newark, outside New York, will continue.

Ryanair has also reduced its short-haul services at Shannon in response to a decline in consumer demand.

The decisions are part of a wide-ranging by the airline to reduce costs in a year when it is expected to record losses of more than €100 million. As part of the plan staff will be offered unpaid leave.

In May, Aer Lingus carried just 90,000 passengers on its transatlantic services compared with 114,000 in the same month of 2008 – a decline of 21 per cent.

Aer Lingus said it will base an extra aircraft at Gatwick for the winter and which will result in an increase in flights to bucharest, Eindhoven, Lanzarote, Tenerife, Vilnius and Warsaw.

Shannon Airport Director Martin Moroney said that while there was disappointment over the loss of the Chicago service for the winter the retention of other routes and the basing of an aircraft at Shannon to strengthen the Heathrow service was “extremely positive news”.

Mr Moroney said he was confident that the review of the Shannon to John F Kennedy in New York would find the service was sustainable, “particularly following the regrettable decision by Delta Airlines to suspend its winter JFK service”.

Fine Gael Limerick East deputy Kieran O’Donnell said this was the second time the Minister for Transport had failed to use the 25 per cent Government shareholding in Aer Lingus to safeguard key flights.

Chief executive of the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation Eamonn McKeon said the announcement was a blow for the area.

"This is disappointing for Irish tourism generally, but particularly so for Shannon and the Western regions," he said.

"It is a double blow for the West coming as it does within 24 hours of Delta Airlines announcing that it too was suspending its winter services from New York to Shannon."