The Mid-West Chambers – Ennis, Galway and Shannon – and the Irish Hotels Federation have welcomed the announcement that the Aer Lingus livery will return to the runways at Shannon Airport with the resumption of its London Heathrow daily service to the airport.
Describing this key route as an essential connectivity hub for the tourism and business sectors alike, the collaborative business grouping, which has been actively engaging with Government on the need to restore essential connectivity to the Airport, have also welcomed the fact that Aer Lingus will deploy a highly fuel-efficient aircraft, an A321LR, to the route, which is very much in line with the aviation sector’s sustainability goals.
“The connectivity provided by Aer Lingus at Shannon has always been a valuable and important contributor to the economic development of this region. Pre-pandemic, the London Heathrow route and transatlantic routes provided the essential connectivity Chamber member companies required to sustain their business links, and the tourism and hospitality sectors along the western seaboard required to drive tourism into the region.
“The return of a London Heathrow service, which has been absent since the onset of COVID-19, is hopefully the first step in Aer Lingus’ reconnection with Shannon. We look forward to the reinstatement of the airline’s strongly supported morning, afternoon and evening services that were viable and well supported pre-pandemic restrictions. Aer Lingus services to/from Shannon were well supported in the past and a return to the frequent and timely services that connect to morning and evening waves at international hubs such as LHR will ensure the return of business travellers.
“As with all routes out of Shannon, we would call on people throughout the Mid-West to avail of this London Heathrow service and the wide range of flight options now available from Shannon Airport. Airports depend on people’s support and airlines make route decisions based on passenger take-up so it behoves us all to make Shannon our airport of choice when planning travel to the destinations now available from Shannon.”
Shannon Airport has confirmed that it’s working to rebuild the Heathrow service. Aer Lingus, which hasn’t committed to recommencing scheduled operations from Shannon, will fly once daily to Heathrow while they can’t operate out of Cork due to runway upgrade works.
