Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 23 Jun 1999

Vol. 506 No. 6

Written Answers. - Air Services.

Tony Killeen

Ceist:

50 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if she has satisfied herself that the arrangement for Aer Lingus services to Los Angeles in 1999 comply with the terms of the Ireland-US Bilateral Air Agreement and its stipulation that 50 per cent of non-stop scheduled flights by each airline to and from the US and Ireland within the same 12 month period must operate non-stop to and from Shannon; and if she will provide assurances that the 1999 precedent will not be used by other transatlantic airlines or by Aer Lingus when it enters a strategic alliance to side-step the equal share out of direct flights between Dublin and Shannon as stipulated in the amended 1993 agreement. [16073/99]

Minister for Public Enterprise (Mrs. O'Rourke)

My Department monitors the North Atlantic operations of all carriers operating services into Ireland to ensure that they comply with the Shannon stop policy.

The arrangements governing this policy which were agreed with the United States in 1993 were designed to ensure that during any given IATA 12 month season, i.e. 1 April to 31 March, any airline serving the Ireland-US market must, taking all of its flights on all routes together, operate at least as many flights to Shannon as to Dublin.

The Aer Lingus Los Angeles service operates Shannon-Dublin-Los Angeles and Los Angeles-Dublin-Shannon. Since Dublin is the last point of departure and the first point of arrival within the State, both legs are regarded as Dublin flights for the purposes of the overall 50/50 stipulation outlined above.

Taking all Aer Lingus North Atlantic flights together, however, the airline does comply with the requirement that at least 50 per cent of all of its flights are Shannon flights.