Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

On behalf of Fine Gael I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. It will come as no surprise to the Minister that I am in favour of liberalising the market, so it would be inconsistent of me to say anything other than that I support this initiative. Open skies can present enormous opportunities for Ireland. This agreement should be overwhelmingly positive, I hope, for all parts of the island. The European Commission believes it will make an enormous difference to the whole of Europe. By liberalising the market and removing all the restrictions that currently exist in terms of capacity, frequency and pricing, enormous benefits are in prospect for this country.

It is the biggest shake-up in aviation since the 1944 Chicago Convention. Heaven knows, aviation and indeed the whole shape of the world has changed enormously since those times. The restrictions that were placed on aviation then need to be swept away in a very effective manner. As the Minister said, the proposed deal will open up EU destinations, which will offer challenges to us as well. For example, our major competitor is Heathrow in terms of providing services throughout the rest of Europe from America so the new arrangements will bring challenges as well as benefits. Up to this the idea that only Irish airlines could fly out of Irish airports was a major restriction. When that was added to the Shannon stopover, it really meant there was only a limited number of flights out of Ireland. It is only when one tries to book a flight that one realises how restricted we are in terms of choice, to get to the United States. That is fatal for an island country such as ours. To make travel from an island country more difficult is ludicrous. We now know that open skies can bring enormous benefits.

The open skies policy in Europe since 1992 has transformed aviation services and opened up the Continent to many passengers. Some 22 million passengers alone will fly out of Dublin Airport this year. It has transformed the Dublin-London route into the busiest and most competitive air transport market in Europe. The opportunity exists to make the EU-US open skies policy bring similar benefits to Ireland. All EU member states will expect to gain benefits from the policy. For Ireland, the opportunities are greater because of our traditional links with the US which were not fully capitalised because of the restrictive nature of the existing agreement.

The European Commission believes it will affect 60% of world airline traffic, increase transatlantic air travel by 50% and save passengers billions of euro over the next several years. This represents large potential for Irish business, trade, tourism, airlines and airports. For passengers, the extra competition gives choice and brings down prices.

Prior to last week's announcement on transatlantic flights by Ryanair, the open skies policy was expected to pave the way for low-cost carriers to operate on transatlantic routes. It will give greater choice, bring down prices and promote economic growth. It will help attract foreign direct investment and grow our tourism product. An increase in daily scheduled flights between Ireland and the US will benefit our island economy. The opportunities on capitalising on direct flights into the west coast of America will open up markets where traditional Irish links exist. The Irish Hotels Federation has welcomed the policy but it is concerned that we invest in selling Ireland as a tourist product. As well as seeking out new markets to the US, we must also promote our airports to ensure they become popular destinations.

The open skies deal is crucial for Aer Lingus as it sees its future growth in expanding into the profitable American routes. It will soon take possession of two new Airbus planes but I hope it will have the increased capacity to avail of the opportunities that will present themselves. Some European countries have already established good bilateral open skies arrangements. Their airlines will be positioning themselves to grab the lion's share in the remaining months before the full liberalisation of the market. Those ready to move in March will be best placed. I hope Aer Lingus will also be well placed then.

Open skies will mean an end to mandatory stopover at Shannon Airport. It behoves all of us that Shannon Airport benefits from the policy. The airport must embrace change. While the stopover deal was good for Shannon over the years, in recent years it has not been good for it or Dublin Airport.

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