The Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has urged the recently appointed steering group which will oversee the launch of Shannon airport as an independent business entity to move quickly with its work and report before the November deadline.
The Minister was speaking at an international aviation conference at Dromoland Castle in Co Clare which is discussing the challenges and opportunities ahead for Shannon to be a key player in the international aviation business.
He said the recently appointed high level steering group is due to report to Cabinet on the changes for Shannon by November.
But the Minister said today he did not believe they should have to wait that long.
He urged the group and its assistant task force groups to move quickly to have detailed plans in place by the year end to give certainty and urgency to the issue, and have the new Shannon airport body up and running immediately after that.
Mr Varadkar indicated that there could be a Cabinet reshuffle probably in 2013 or 2014 - and because of this he would like to see the plans up and running successfully long before that.
Shannon needs to market its 'strengths' - expert
Meanwhile, an international aviation business specialist told the conference that Shannon airport needs to do much more to inform the international aviation business world of its many attractions, and how it has the edge over other airports across the world.
Aoife O’ Sullivan, Chairperson of the European Business Aviation Association said Shannon already had a cluster of business expertise tax incentives and attractions, such as one of the longest runways in the world, excellent hanger space, a college for aeronautical engineers and the right time zone for international transactions. But she said that these needed to be branded and marketed aggressively particularly for the corporate private jet business.
