24/10/2007

Irish Airline Confident On Belfast Arrival

Aer Lingus is confident of a successful move to Northern Ireland next month.

After recently settling a dispute with pilots over pay and conditions for the new base at Belfast International Airport, it is already predicting that the Belfast operation will be profitable within a year.

Its first flights from Belfast - to Amsterdam – start next month, and plans to fly to nine destinations – including the contentious London Heathrow route axed from the Shannon base – are at an advanced stage.

Commercial director Enda Corneille said there was also scope for further growth over the next few years.

However, the man in charge of running Shannon Airport has quit in protest at not being told of plans to end the Aer Lingus’ Shannon-Heathrow flights, in order to open a new Northern Ireland-based hub.

Pat Shanahan said his position as the executive chairman had become untenable, after the Dublin Airport Authority failed to tell him it knew the airline intended to move its Shannon base to Belfast.

See: Aer Lingus Pilots Ready For Belfast Take-Off

www.4ni.co.uk/northern_ireland_news.asp?id=67130

(BMcC)




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