Shannon Airport is being outstripped by airports in Dublin and Cork because of cheap air fares to the UK, according to the Mid-West Business Forum report, a study published yesterday n Limerick by IBEC, the employers' organisation.
While national air terminal figures have increased by 72 per cent in the past five years, Dublin's increase was 78 per cent, while Shannon growth has been a relatively sluggish 40 per cent.
Mr Seamus O'Sullivan, regional president of IBEC, said the organisation had prepared the report with the Limerick and Ennis Chambers of Commerce and the Shannon regional hoteliers, because of "the concern of the region's business community at the decline. This concern is necessary in recognition of the crucial role which the airport plays in advancing both industry and tourism development. "
He said that while Shannon Airport was once a key factor in attracting foreign investment, "its decline is likely to impact strongly and negatively on investment decisions in the next ten years."
Mr John Fahey, Shannon Regional Hoteliers, said that tourism market revenue growth from 1992 to 1995 was only 26 per cent in the west compared to 77 per cent in the east. The hotel industry in the region would make a positive contribution to encouraging new airlines into Shannon, he said.
Mr Tadhg Kearney, former president of the Limerick Chamber of Commerce, in a statistical presentation, showed that the total traffic market share at Shannon by the year 2002 will be down to 8.9 per cent, with Cork at 9.2 per cent and Dublin 81.9 per cent.
In 1997, the figures were: Shannon 14 per cent, Cork nine per cent and Dublin 77 per cent, while in 1987 the figures were Shannon 24 per cent, Cork eight per cent and Dublin 68 per cent. The report discusses the need for the operation of a low-cost, "no-frills" airline from Shannon to compete on a high volume basis and with unrestricted mid-week daily return fares of not more than £120 to London. Shannon also requires early morning flights to London, according to the report, to enable people to complete business in London in one day, and corresponding early-morning inward flights to Shannon not later than 9.30 a.m.