RYANAIR HAS CONFIRMED that it is to cut 21% of its services to Shannon airport from November 1st, blaming the government’s €10 travel tax and the decision of the Shannon authorities to increase passenger charges by €1.58 per passenger.

In an anticipated announcement, the airline said it would cut the Shannon-Paris route, which makes four rotations per week, will be cut entirely, while the Shannon-Gatwick route will fall from 7 rotations to 6, and Shannon-Stansted from 13 weekly rotations to 11.

The pullout will come at the same time as the airline withdraws completely from Belfast City Airport, on November 1.

The mayor of Clare, Christy Curtin, had called on the Shannon Airport Authority to confirm plans on how it proposes to replace the business being lost by the Ryanair pullout.

“The need to establish an autonomous Shannon Airport has long been debated, but there is also an urgent requirement to define the exact nature of the role played by the existing Shannon Airport Authority in managing the airport’s affairs,” he told the Clare Herald newspaper.

“If [...] it has little or no authority over the management of the airport, then I would question its existence until such time as the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) gives the airport full autonomy.”

The mayor of Shannon, meanwhile, has criticised Ryanair’s “revolving door” approach to its business.

Tony Mulcahy said Ryanair was punishing the mid-west region because of its problem with the government and its travel tax, and called on the government to remove the tax and help Ryanair avoid scaling back its operations.