The Chairman of the Oireachtas Transport Committee, Eoin Ryan, has said the completion of an EU/US Open Skies Policy must be a central aim of the Irish Government and the European Union.
With the next round of open skies negotiations beginning in Brussels today, the Fianna Fáil TD said he hoped the meeting would help to accelerate a conclusion to the process.
Mr Ryan said a new agreement would ensure that Aer Lingus and other Irish airlines would be able to fly into as many as 15 different destinations in the United States.
He said the new arrangement would result in a large increase in passenger numbers from the US into Ireland, and would help the long-term development of Dublin Airport.
However, a public meeting was held at Shannon Airport last night over growing concerns about the effect of an open skies policy on the airport.
Workers and union representatives believe that such a policy, in which US carriers would no longer have an obligation to fly into Shannon, would be disastrous.
They say the open skies experience in Europe has shown that 100% of the business goes into one gateway.
Concern was also expressed at Aer Lingus's long-term commitment to Shannon following the company's announcement that it is seeking redundancies among ground staff, as well as plans to transfer 45 of its 200 Shannon-based cabin crew to Dublin.
