LIMERICK IN MOTION
Business Community Support Vital for Shannon Airport Growth Limerick Chamber’s long-time focus on enhanced regional air connectivity through Shannon airport took on renewed importance over the period of the pandemic. As a leading advocate the Chamber has been pressing for increased aviation investment that will be vital as the region recovers from the Covid economic impact.
We look forward to the details of this aviation
support emerging, and believe it is critically important that any funding for route
development should
take into consideration the wider economic impacts of links to
strategic hub airports
— rather than narrowly focused on tourism routes,” said Ryan,
“Positive discrimination in favour of non-Dublin airports will drive
increased passenger
numbers and economic benefits to the regions and will be a step
forward in achieving balanced regional
development as well as Government’s Project Ireland 2040 goals.
In 2019, the Chamber commissioned a report by Copenhagen Economics to highlight how direct business connectivity into Shannon Airport could benefit the regional economy and support the growth of existing clusters of industry. Limerick Chamber continues to use the findings in its ongoing evidence-based lobbying activities. “Multi-national members will tell you that ease of connectivity through Shannon Airport has been a key decision-making factor for choosing to locate here in the Midwest, but we wanted independent measurement of the impact of strategic routes,” said Limerick Chamber CEO Dee Ryan. “The Copenhagen Economics report demonstrated a direct correlation between specific airport routes into hub airports and economic growth.” People might not be aware that stateowned airports in Shannon, Cork, and Dublin are not coordinated in their route development and are often working in competition with each other to entice airlines and increase passenger numbers. Between 2013, when Shannon Airport gained its independence from management by the Dublin Airport Authority, and 2019, before the pandemic shut down air travel, Shannon and Cork airports increased their traffic by a combined 550,00 passengers. Ryan explained, “In the same period, Dublin Airport grew its traffic by 13.8 million additional passengers, dominating in an unusual way compared to other EU states and constraining the capacity of other Irish airports to compete.”
In lobbying for change in this area, Limerick Chamber’s focus has been on calling for the alignment of national aviation policy with the goals of Project Ireland 2040. It has also been advocating for the rebalancing of air access into the country to support economic growth outside of the capital city area. Recently, the Chamber welcomed support directly from Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar around “positive discrimination” for regional airports in the COVID recovery. The Chamber viewed this support as extremely encouraging for the airport and businesses across Limerick and the Mid-West. Following a meeting between the Chamber and the Tanaiste in June, Ryan said, “We were heartened by the Tánaiste’s comments that he favours positive discrimination towards regional airports in the period ahead. This support has been a key goal of the Chamber.” During the meeting, the Tánaiste acknowledged that state aid is, in fact, permissible under EU guidelines for airports with passenger numbers of less than three million passengers. This contradicted preCOVID-19 misconceptions that the government was prevented under EU law from financially supporting stateowned airports. During this meeting, the Tánaiste also indicated that he does not favour limiting financial support for regional airports to only the period of the COVID-19 economic recovery. www.limerickchamber.ie
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