The eight government-nominated members of the new Shannon Airport Authority have met officially for the first time. The authority has said its key focus is to double passenger numbers inside five years, to around 4 million a year.
Pat Shanahan, chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority, says that the authority wishes to increase the number of flights to Europe and to to regional airports in the UK. He said that the airport needed to reduce its cost base in order to attract low-cost airlines on these routes.
He also said that the airport wished to increase the number of flights to the US and believed that there should be enough business in the West of Ireland to justify the expansion.
He also welcomed the decision of Minister Seamus Brennan to halt the sale of 170 acres of land around the airport, which means that the new airport authority can include the land in any future plans for the airport.
