The Irish Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has extended an existing Aer Arann Islands (Connemara) Public Services Obligation (PSO) contract to serve the Aran Islands by four months. The announcement comes after a public outcry in the affected community following Dublin's decision to award a new PSO contract to connect Inishmaan, Inisheer, and Inishmore with Galway, to Executive Helicopters (EXH, Galway) to run from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2019.
In a statement, the government said it was extending Aer Arann Islands' contract through to February of next year to allow for enough time to determine whether or not Executive Helicopters would be in a position to operate out of Galway airport.
"In accordance with legal advice received, it has now been decided to extend the voluntary standstill period to 16 November 2015 with a view to obtaining clarification on the availability of Galway Airport for the duration of the 4 year contract from 1 October 2015 as set out in the Request for Tenders," an official communique said. "In order to ensure that an air service continues to be provided to/from the Aran Islands, the Department will be engaging with the existing service provider (Galway Aviation Services Ltd trading as Aer Arann) with a view to agreeing the terms of an extension to the existing contract from 1 October 2015 to 1 February 2016."
Islanders have complained bitterly about the decision to award the contract to a helicopter operator as well as plans to shift the current mainland base from Connemara to Galway, located some 50km away.
