The challenge
For Dan Irvine, Aviation Development Manager at Shannon Airport, winning and retaining routes comes down to evidence. Airlines receive pitches from airports across the continent; a regional airport has to demonstrate clearly and credibly why a route will work. That means understanding how Shannon's existing network performs, how it compares with neighbouring airports, where the gaps are, and how target markets have behaved historically.
How RDC helped
RDC's Apex platform supports six of the seven stages in Shannon's route development process, giving the Aviation Development team a consistent evidence base from initial network review through to airline pitch.
Analysing network performance
The team starts at home. Apex provides average fares, seat capacity and sector length for every Shannon route, which the team combines with passenger numbers and load factors from its own systems. Plotting fare against load factor makes the whole network visible on a single view and surfaces outliers immediately.
Figure 1: Shannon's Network by Average Fare and Load Factor - Source: RDC Apex and Internal data
Benchmarking against peer airports
Apex applies the same metrics to Shannon's competitors. Comparing average fare with average sector length across the Irish airport network shows where Shannon earns a yield premium and where market dynamics differ – a useful point of evidence in any airline conversation.
Figure 2: Average Fare vs Average Sector Length, Irish Airports - Source: RDC Apex
Finding new opportunities
By plotting fares and sector lengths for routes operated from peer airports, the team can quickly identify markets that Shannon does not yet serve but that perform well elsewhere – shortlisting targets based on proven demand rather than assumption.
Understanding the historic market
Once a target is chosen, Apex shows how that market has developed over time. Annual seats by carrier alongside average fares reveal which airlines have entered or left the market and how pricing has responded. Monthly data shows the shape of the season – essential for leisure routes that may only operate from spring to autumn.
Figure 3: Annual Seats by Carrier and Average Fare - Source: RDC Apex
Figure 4: Monthly Seats and Average Fare - Source: RDC Apex
Benchmarking yield
Apex lets the team compare route-level fares with peer airports, testing Shannon's yield position on specific markets. Its coverage of low-cost carriers is a particular strength for an airport where Ryanair is a major partner.
Figure 5: Average Fare by Destination, Peer Airports - Source: RDC Apex
Bringing it together
The final stage draws all the evidence together. Shannon treats its forecast less as a precise prediction and more as a way to test its own assumptions and build a clear narrative for the airline – one that complements, rather than replaces, the airline’s own analysis.
Quotes
Using data on seats and fares, we can see both how a market has progressed over time and the seasonality of the route in a particular year. This is where Apex really excels.
Apex allows us to benchmark yield against peer airports. Other tools capture this data too, but Apex typically has better coverage in the low-cost sector.
Dan Irvine, Aviation Development Manager, Shannon Airport