Shannon Airport’s ties with the Dublin Airport Authority will offically come to an end today.
A legislative order which will see Clare’s International Airport fly solo comes into affect at midnight.
Earlier this month the government formally announced its plans to seperate Shannon Airport from the Dublin Airport Authority and see it merged with a restruced Shannon Development to form a new independent entity.
Over 800 new jobs have already been secured as part of plans for an International Aviation Services Centre – and further details on that are expected early in the new year – while up to 3 and a half thousand positions are expected to be created by the centre within five years.
Newquay woman Rose Hynes – who chaired the Aviation Business Development Task Force which drafted Shannon’s new plan – is set to head up the new independent company and the board is expected to include a worker representative.
The news has been broadly welcomed by all the stakeholders in the region with the only real fly in the ointment – the loss of Aer Rianta International which will remain within the DAA- However transport Minsiter Leo Varadkar insists the trade off will see Shannon Aiport starting on debt free basis with operating funding expected to come the property portfolio from Shannon Development .
