Tag Archives: Neil Pakey

Shannon Airport is set to make history again on Friday, July 4, when up to 1,200  runners line up for the first ever night-run on an Irish airport runway, in an event to raise fund for the Samaritans. Teaming up with Bank of Ireland the Runway Night Run will take place at 11pm when participants set off on the 5km run along what is one of Europe’s longest runways. The Samaritans is a designated Shannon Airport charity and the initiative has been boosted by the support of Bank of Ireland as lead sponsors. Lions, Irish and Munster rugby legend Keith Wood has also come on board as an ambassador for the event and will lead out the runners, limited to 1,200 people, on one of the most novel courses ever in Ireland for an organised run. Neil Pakey, Shanon Airport chief executive,said,” “There are runway runs at a small number of airports across the world every year, but this will certainly …

Ryanair’s announcement this Wednesday that it is to add five routes onto its winter schedule at Shannon has been welcomed as another significant boost for the airport. Shannon Airport’s  winter schedule, which starts at the end of October, will see Ryanair retain its new Paris, Berlin, Fuerteventura, Warsaw and Krakow routes, all of which commenced in April. In all, Ryanair will operate 10 routes this winter, five more than last year. The other routes operated by the airline across the winter schedule will be Gatwick, Lanzarote, Liverpool, Stansted and Wroclaw. Shannon Airport CEO, Neil Pakey said, “This is a very important commitment by Ryanair to its Shannon schedule. We are already experiencing a significant upswing in summer passenger numbers thanks to the airline’s nine new routes, which started at the beginning of April. “A major objective of ours after securing those new summer services was to bolster the winter season and this is a significant move in that regard.” Also welcoming …

SHANNON Airport is in major growth mode this week, as nine new routes commence in five days, delivering a  boost for tourism and business interests. Less than 15 months after the airport was made independent,  Shannon will enjoy its biggest week in almost a decade in terms of new route start-ups, as Ryanair launches new services, to Munich, Paris, Faro, Warsaw, Krakow, Nice, Poitiers, Berlin, Fuerteventura, while Aer Lingus Regional kicks-off a new Bristol service. The 2014 summer season, which officially begins in April, will see 16 service enhancements at Shannon, including the nine new routes.  Among the enhanced services is the now year-round Aer Lingus New York service, which began on Sunday.  This will be a six times weekly service and is the first time Aer Lingus will have operated year-round on New York since 2009. Aer Lingus also  started a new twice weekly Malaga service on Sunday, which will add to the significantly expanded European network to and from the airport this year. “This week is a turning point for Shannon. Not since 2005 has Shannon had a week like this in terms of new …

  By Owen Ryan SHANNON Airport ended a five year long decline in 2013, as its passenger numbers increased for the first time since 2007, official figures released this week have shown. In all 1,400,032 passengers flew through Shannon last year, slightly more than the 1,394,781 in 2012. While 1.4 million is still well below half the number that used Shannon during the late Celtic Tiger days of 2006 and 2007, an improvement is hugely welcome after such a long running and steep decline. It also shows that Shannon enjoyed a largely positive first year after its separation from the Dublin Airport Authority. The increase in passengers came despite a very rocky start to last year, as the airport’s decline continued in each month up to and including May. However, things turned around after that and the increase in passengers was most pronounced on transatlantic routes where 22% growth was achieved, largely due to new services to Chicago and Philadelphia. …