Aer Lingus Chairman Colm Barrington has again reiterated that it wouldn’t be economically viable to avail of pre-clearnace facilities at Shannon until the middle of next year.
Mr Barrington was responding to a request for clarification from Junior Minister and Clare TD Tony Killeen on why the former national carrier hasn’t signed up to the service, even thought three other US carriers have.
When pre-clearance started at Shannon Airport at the beginning of last month Aer Lingus already stated it wouldn’t be availing of the service.Speaking to Clare Fm at the start of July spokesperson Enda Corneille said that it wouldn’t economically viable at that stage.
He said he wouldn’t be feasible for them to use the service in Shannon from August as it would mean their flights stateside would go into different terminals…adding cost and inconvenience to their passengers.
However he added that the former state carrier is extremely supportive of the measure. This has been reiterated by the chairman of the airline in a written response to Junior Minister Tony Killeen
Colm Barrington told him the airline has no plans to use the new Shannon facility until a similar service in Dublin comes into operation next year.
He added that when this happens in 20/10 they will then be in a position to move all operations to domestic terminals in the United States subject to breaking existing leases and they could then use Shannon
