Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 43: To ask the Minister for Transport the financial measures he is proposing for route support, marketing and the enhancing of connectivity at Shannon Airport; when he will respond to the €53 million support package for Shannon and the mid west; if he has met Shannon Airport Authority and other mid west stakeholders on this matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32800/07]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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Since the announcement by Aer Lingus of its decision to withdraw from the Shannon Heathrow route, Shannon Airport Authority has been actively engaging with airlines with a view to securing new services that would redress the reduction in connectivity that will follow from withdrawal of the Aer Lingus service. With a view to promoting the development of new services, the airport has published a European Hub Airport Incentive Scheme for services to come into operation in 2008. The Airport Authority has specifically identified airline services to the key European Hub airports of London — Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam and Frankfurt- Main as being of key strategic importance to its ongoing development. The Scheme also provides for significant discounts in airport charges and for the possibility of marketing support to be provided by Shannon Airport for new services. In the context of the decision of Aer Lingus to withdraw its Shannon Heathrow service my Department has had several meetings with stakeholders in the mid west region and I have met the Atlantic Connectivity Alliance on two occasions. My Department has prepared an Economic and Tourism Development Plan for the Shannon Airport catchment area. The Plan has been prepared in consultation with the Departments of Finance; Arts, Sport and Tourism; Enterprise, Trade and Employment; and Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and will be finalised shortly. The purpose of the plan is to ensure that the region is well placed to respond to the challenges and opportunities emerging in the context of full liberalisation of the transatlantic aviation market and the phasing out of the Shannon stop as envisaged under the EU-US Open Skies Agreement.