Row Simmers Over Aer Lingus' Shannon Decision

Clare T.D. Calls For First Cabinet Meeting To Be Held In West Ireland

County Clare-based Fine Gael T.D. Joe Carey called on Tuesday for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to hold his first fall cabinet meeting in Shannon so that he and his ministers can weigh the anger there after Aer Lingus' decision to move Heathrow flights from its Mid-Western hub to Belfast.

The Taoiseach is expected to hold his first Cabinet meeting since the summer break on August 29th.

"If the Cabinet met here in Shannon next week, they could hear directly from those affected by the decision by Aer Lingus to remove the Shannon-Heathrow slots," he Clare-based T.D. said.

"It would show a genuine commitment to address those concerns, something that has been lacking up to this point. The longer this crisis is allowed to drag on without resolution, the more damage is done, not only to Aer Lingus, but the region as a whole.

"You have to ask yourself, if a similar issue arose at Dublin Airport, would the Cabinet be so complacent?" he concluded.

Around 70 Fine Gael T.D.s, Senators and council members held a meeting in Shannon to debate their party's strategy on the issue and to listen, first-hand, to the concerns of business and tourism leaders there.

Strike Averted... For Now

The threatened pilots' strike set for last Monday, which would have caused chaos for up to 40,000 Aer Lingus passengers, was narrowly averted the pilots union, the Irish

Airline Pilots Association, agreed to enter talks with management to discuss the disputed conditions for employment at their new Belfast base.

In the meantime, Aer Lingus confirmed that it would be evaluating the financial cost to the company if the threatened strike does materialize.

A spokesperson for the airlin said that its fleet of aircraft had a load factor in the "low 70s" on Tuesday morning, slightly lower than its averahe of 75-80%.

According to Aer Lingus commercial director Enda Corneille, "[Monday] was our busiest time in some time - 98% of all of our flights were full.

"A strike is not welcome at any time. It's good that it's not happening. The cost is something we will be evaluating over the next number of days."

"Customers should have full confidence in Aer Lingus in making bookings. We've been selling very heavily in the run-up to the strike for the next few months," he added.

RyanAir Steps In

On Monday night, Ryanair increased its stake in Aer Lingus to more than 29.4%, becoming the largest shareholder.

The buy leaves Ryanair with 4.4% more stock in the former state airline than the Irish Government, which has a 25% stake with the employee share ownership trust (Esot), which owns 12.6%, remaining the third-largest stockholder.