USAF interested in purchasing Shannon Airport

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday March 26, 2003 10:39 by Damien Crowley

An international commercial bank has expressed an interest in acquiring one third of Aer Rianta, valuing the state-owned airport operator at between €2.6 billion and €3 billion.

USAF interested in purchasing Shannon Airport

An international commercial bank has expressed an interest in acquiring one third of Aer Rianta, valuing the state-owned airport operator at between €2.6 billion and €3 billion.
The interest of the unnamed bank was brought to the attention of Seamus Brennan, the minister for transport, when he attended an Aer Rianta board meeting last October. In its discussions with Brennan the company has made it clear that competition at Dublin airport, and plans to turn Cork and Shannon airports into separate commercial entities.

With the removal of the compulsory stop-over for trans-atlantic routes, Shannon airport would be of most interest to international freight forwarders or delivery companies who could utilise the facilities almost exclusively. Amongst those interested in Shannon is the United States Air Force. "Obviously we would be interested" said a Pentagon spokesperson "Shannon is a fabulous facility with a top class runway and would be very suitable for the United States as a strategic and secure troop transport facility."

Although Aer Rianta's plans are at a early stage, it is conservatively reckoned that Shannon Airport would command a pricetag of around €700 million. The prospect of a windfall will be welcomed by Aer Rianta staff if they can secure a 5% stake in the company, similar to the stakes negotiated by employees in other state-owned companies. If this succeeded the 3,300 employees could look forward to a payment of nearly €13,000 each in the event that one third of the business was sold for €850m.

Any decision on the future of Aer Rianta will be subject to the approval of David Begg, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.