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THE GOVERNMENT HAS confirmed that Shannon Airport and Shannon Development are to merge, leading to the creation of 850 jobs.
The Government has decided to grant Shannon Airport full independence from Dublin Airport Authority on December 31 2012 and merge it with a restructured Shannon Development to form a new, publicly-owned, commercial entity in 2013.
The airport has been loss-making since 2008 and passenger numbers have fallen by 60 per cent over the past five years, which has been described by the Government as “untenable”.
Today, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation Richard Bruton and Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar confirmed that the Government will now implement the decision taken in principle last May.
Jobs
They said that specific commitments for the creation of 850 jobs have been secured from two Shannon-based companies, as part of plans for an International Aviation Services Centre.
They said that these commitments depend on the separation of Shannon Airport from the DAA. The ministers added that a report from the Aviation Business Development Task Force, set up by the Shannon Steering Group:
also states that the Aviation Services Centre ‘is conservatively projected to create and maintain 3,000-3,500 new direct jobs within five years, not including construction jobs’.
This decision “will grant Shannon Airport the long-awaited freedom to determine its own future in the best interests of the airport itself and of the Shannon region, and merge it with a restructured Shannon Development”, said the Ministers. The new entity will include Shannon Development’s extensive landbank and will be tasked with developing an international aviation centre of excellence.
Potential
Minister Varadkar said he is satisfied that Shannon Airport can perform to its full potential “without the constraints of remote oversight and DAA control”.
The International Aviation Services Centre (IASC) in and around the airport, will build on activities already undertaken in Shannon such as aircraft maintenance and leasing.
Minister Bruton said that this merger “will act as a catalyst for economic development and job-creation in the region”.
By merging a strong independent Shannon Airport with the extensive property holdings, experience and expertise of Shannon Development we will create a strong new State company which will work with the IDA and Enterprise Ireland on developing an International Aviation Services Centre in the region.
Strategy
Last May, Minister Varadkar and Minister Bruton were tasked by the Government to develop an implementation strategy for the new entity and assess the feasibility of creating an international aviation services centre with the airport as its hub.
They were assisted by a steering group of senior officials from five Government departments and two task forces. Legislation will now be drafted to establish a new, publicly-owned commercial Shannon entity comprising the airport and the restructured Shannon Development.
This legislation will also make a change to the name of the Dublin Airport Authority to take account of the new ownership structures, and should be enacted by the middle of 2013.
It is now intended to make appointments to the boards of the Shannon Airport Authority and Shannon Development to ensure that the necessary work is undertaken in relation to the changes.
Earlier today, Ireland West Airport Knock said that it may have to launch a legal challenge against the Government’s subsidy and support plans for Ireland’s airports. It said that in particular, this included the separation of Shannon Airport from the DAA.
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Best of luck Shannon. Congrats that you are now free from the grip of the DAA that was destroying you. Nice Airport to fly in and out of.
Great news for Shannon airport and from the surrounding areas. The airport is a pleasure to fly in and out from as a regular flyer so nice to get some good news in regards to its development.
Great news for Shannon.. Feck all the begrudgers..
Now that the DAA has creamed the best of Shannon traffic….
Ryanair will slime back big time, o leary doesn’t want to deal with the DAA, he needs Shannon if he goes ahead with transatlantic flights. Shannon will take off(excuse the pun) big time, also a lot of other airlines will fly in to Shannon, especially US airlines.
I wouldn’t blame ryanair for not wanting to deal with the DAA. There money grabbers with terrible track records when it comes to running a airport. I wouldn’t be surprised if shannon is a huge success and puts Dublin airport to shame.
Great news
I’m confused, how can something that’s loss making, decrease in passengers of 60% create 850 new jobs. this plan does have the hallmarks of the Irish government all over it.
Maybe the moderator will explain why he/she removes truthful comments from this and other pages, comments such as..
Some Dublin and Cork politicians as well as civil servants colluded with each other so as to destroy Shannon Airport, anyone who denies that there was a conspiracy against Shannon and the Mid-West is living in cloud cuckoo land or the land of self denial.
The fact is that the DAA took €1 billion of what was rightfully Shannon’s money, they took this money by getting a gift of Aer Rianta International from Seamus Brennan.
The only interest the DAA had in Shannon was to collude with Dublin and Cork Civil servants and politicians to destroy Shannon for their own greedy, parochial, narrow minded gain. It was the old “Cork and Dublin” old boys club. A club which was (and is) horrified at the though of a major, successful International Airport only 10 minutes drive from Limerick City.
Great news for Shannon Airport, and hopefully ye will get back the business that DAA WRONGFULLY took from ye…….Great Xmas present for all in that area, and the jobs will come imho..
wonder will aer lingus work with them, as most of the time we from kerry have limited flights or no flights for months to new york,,, but thanks to delta for picking up the slack and cheaper prices,, cant believe they are giving them free reign as they have been trying to shut them down for years, sad as its the nicest airport to show ireland at its finest,, driving in and seeing castles, rivers,, lush green fields,, i really hope this is for the good and our government not trying the sneaky,,, i for one love shannon airport, and pray they get it back off the ground and go for it,,
Brilliant news for Shannon , love using Shannon airport , it’s such a shame so few flights leave the airport these days but this is about to change . Would always be my Airport of choice , it’s quick to get through , staff are brilliant , well done Shannon airport
Mega news for the Airport as the region had been neglected for some time now . Good luck for the future to all concerned.
Great news for Shannon for a change. Merging with DAA in the first place was a bad and calculated move by Bertie & Co. A lot of flights have been taken by DAA for Dublin’s benefit but can eventually be wooed back to some degree if done properly.
Let’s hope it bring some much needed prosperity for the region once more.
Shannon should now sue the DAA for the return of the €1 billion that the DAA took when Aer Rianta International was gifted to them by seamus brennan, plus the €160 millions that ARI make every year.
The DAA tried to destroy the Shannon Region, it’s time to make them pay.
Great news. Now we need the routes. Had to leave Limerick at 1am yesterday morning for the 1st flight out of Dub to Brussels. It would be great to crawl out of bed and take the handy spin out to Shannon.
Likely to be a very chilly day in hell when this delivers 850 jobs.
This will deliver 10,000 jobs within ten years……………….We have got the very thing that Dublin and Cork were (are) afraid of, a totally Independent Airport, a strong aerport = a strong region…..we will have both.
Yes Gerard,
I also see you got loads of thumbs down from the serendipity brigade.
@ AJ
You’re a dreamer. You’re loyalty to the region is admirable but reality will be dissapointing and as for
‘he needs Shannon if he goes ahead with transatlantic flights’
Shannon hasn’t been needed for transatlantic flights since the 80′s
@josh….Shannon was and is the place most US airlines want to fly to. Aer lyingus (sic) and the DAA put a stop to most transatlantic flights coming in to Shannon. Most US tourists want to fly directly to the West, Aer lyingus stopped them. Dublin is just another City to them.
Shannon will boom, to the disgust and dismay of Dublin, Cork and Mayo……another reason for these people to bitch about the Limerick/Shannon Region. Raising a mug of tea to this momentous decision.
AJ, the same begrudges didn’t want Limerick to have a university.
This is great news for the Midwest.
great news was at Shannon airport over Halloween it’s a ghost airport with at most 1 flight an hour. it’s a very handy airport for us in the west, if only it flew to more destinations, since Ryanair pulled most of its flights out the place it has become very quite.
Can’t wait for more flights – biggest problem with Shannon is no flights going out of there (for me anyway). So tired of the Dublin/Cork drive or the Heathrow connection to get anywhere other than the UK.
Happy Days and I hope it delivers the jobs to the region
Why was my comment taken down. It was not offensive to anybody.
Where is the freedom of speech on the journal these days.
Great news for Shannon Airport – Clare Galway and Limerick. Lets get Michael O Leary back ASAP. Ryanair should make Shannon its Headquarters. Lets get new flights ASAP.The people of the Mid West must support Shannon in preference to other airports in Ireland. A big thanks to Minister Michael Noonan – great work for Limerick and Clare
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