Mr. Willie Walsh:

It is extremely difficult, mainly because of the slot restrictions at the international hub airports. Senator Dooley mentioned Amsterdam and Frankfurt. It is almost impossible at Amsterdam given the measures that are now being put in place by the government there to reduce the number of flights that can operate at Schipol. Airlines are already concerned about the impact that will have on the slots it has currently. If someone wants to connect to Amsterdam, it is really KLM that needs to be convinced, not solely but mainly KLM. It is going to be extremely difficult. It is the same with Frankfurt where slots are at a premium. What must be recognised is that being connected to Heathrow does have significant value and maintaining that connection is clearly important. Senator Dooley is quite correct that if Shannon is a spoke in this case being connected to a hub, an international hub is very important for the region because it does provide access to a global network. We get a lot of that in Dublin but then there is no direct flight from Shannon to Dublin. Flying to another major European hub airport will be a challenge.

It is important to look beyond the traditional hubs in Europe. I was in Istanbul last week. Turkish Airlines is one of the fastest growing airlines. It is a true global operator. It is looking to expand its network and it is very ambitious. While you would not fly to Istanbul to connect to everywhere, it does provide a lot of connections to the east. There are opportunities to attract airlines like that, which currently operate into Dublin and that know the Irish market. The traditional hub airports in Europe are slot-constrained and getting access to them is becoming more and more difficult.