WHILE AER Lingus prepares to scale back its transatlantic services at Shannon airport next year, British Airways boss Willie Walsh (right) is considering using the Clare airport as a stopping off point for an expansion of its business class transatlantic flights from London City Airport.

“BA are talking to ourselves about expanding that at the moment and opening more US routes using CBP at Shannon,” Declan Collier, chief executive of the Dublin Airport Authority told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport on Wednesday.

BA currently flies from London City to JFK in New York, stopping at Shannon to refuel and use its CBP facilities to clear passengers through US immigration so they arrive into the United States as domestic passengers.

Last week Walsh said Boston, Washington and Chicago were likely candidates to be added from London City.

In its latest annual report, Walsh described the service from London City to New York, via Shannon, as “one of those quiet successes”.

It achieved an average load factor of 60 per cent in the six months to the end of March.

Walsh said it was a “brave” decision to launch the business-only services in the current economic climate but customers are now urging the airline to expand the service.

“We may well add new destinations when the time is right.”

It might not be Shannon’s most lucrative business but at a time when many airlines are taking flight from there, it’s a welcome piece of good news.