TRAVEL PLANS:SHANNON AIRPORT is set to lose 14 routes from its winter schedule as airlines continue to feel the bite of the recession.
Ryanair has cut 20 per cent of its flights from Dublin this winter compared with last, reducing routes and frequencies.
Air traffic fell by more than 16 per cent between January and September, and winter traffic is expected to be just as badly hit. Dublin Airport Authority is forecasting an annual drop of 13 per cent at Dublin, Cork and Shannon, the three airports it manages.
The main winter-sun destinations will remain the Canary Islands, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Florida. The Portuguese island of Madeira is a new route being operated from Dublin by Sata. Ryanair will fly three times a week to Malta from Dublin, and it has also introduced routes from Dublin to Lanzarote and Las Palmas. There will be no direct flights or package holidays to Cyprus, however.
On transatlantic routes, Delta is ending its Dublin and Shannon service to Atlanta, and Aer Lingus will stop serving Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, as well as Chicago from Shannon. The company is fully reinstating its Shannon-Heathrow route, however.
The only new Aer Lingus route from Dublin this winter will be to Fuerteventura, in the Canaries, joining its routes to Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Tenerife. It will also fly from Belfast to Tenerife.
Norwegian Airlines, which began flying from Dublin to Oslo and Copenhagen in August, is expected to continue its service over the winter.
Cork is showing less of a change compared with last winter, with only one route, a ski charter to Bulgaria, not operating, and Flybmi is beginning a route to East Midlands on December 18th. Aer Lingus has increased flights from Cork to Birmingham and Manchester.
Ski charters will not begin until after Christmas this year, with Bulgaria the hardest-hit route. Austria, France, Andorra and Italy all continue to be served by charters. Sunway will not offer skiing this season.