THE voice of business in the Mid West is being heard in relation to Shannon Airport’s future. Brian O’Neill, president of Ennis Chamber, Joanne Richardson, chief executive of the American Chamber of Commerce, Matthias Muller, Regional chairperson of the Irish Hotels Federation, and Gordon Kearney, president of Limerick Chamber, spoke on the issue this week in advance of Transport Minister, Leo Varadkar’s eagerly awaited statement on Shannon.
Brian O’Neill said the focus must be on developing a strategy to increase passenger numbers along with secondary services.
“A year round effective airport built on connectivity and passenger numbers is vital for the future of the industrial base and tourism industry of the region”.
Joanne Richardson commented that Shannon is an essential piece of infrastructure for the significant number of US businesses in the Mid West and West of Ireland.
“There are over 150 major multinationals in these regions providing valuable employment to almost 25,000 people.
“The operating structure of Shannon Airport needs to be addressed to allow it to independently compete both within Ireland and throughout Europe, to enable it to grow and continue to act as an international hub that supports these businesses’ needs in order to retain and grow investment”.
Matthias Muller endorsed “all efforts to ensure Shannon Airport’s future as a strategic hub for tourism and business into the West.
Mr Kearney emphasised that Shannon Airport must become independent of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), while remaining in State ownership.
“The first step in this process has to be the creation of a new independent airport body with a new Board of Directors representative of the international, national and regional interests that the airport serves,” he said.
“This Board must be tasked with making recommendations to the minister on the most appropriate operating model for the airport, a model that will stress the need to create a commercially focused airport that develops its full potential and serves the needs of the region”.
Stressing the need to have the new model implemented this year, Mr Kearney said there is potential to grow passenger, cargo and aircraft maintenance business at the airport.
