The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
SHANNON Airport’s summer schedule is getting off to a flying start with four destinations to the UK, US and Europe taking off within a 36-hour period on Sunday and Monday.
On Sunday, March 27 Aer Lingus services from Shannon to London Heathrow will see the return of the daily early morning 7.40am flight. This will mark the full restoration of Heathrow services, providing 20 services per week. At 10.55am that day passengers will see the return of the popular Ryanair service to Palma Mallorca which will operate three flights per week (Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays). Later that afternoon the first flight to Malta will depart Shannon. This new Ryanair service will operate twice weekly (Thursdays and Sundays).
On Monday March 28th, the much-anticipated New York/Newark service with United Airlines will make a welcome return after almost two years, with services running seven days a week. All US bound passengers at Shannon will be able to avail of US preclearance ensuring they arrive in the US as domestic passengers and avoid long queues.
These services are just some of the 26 destinations on offer from Shannon Airport this summer, with options to Budapest, Corfu, Marseille, Barcelona, Faro, Lanzarote, Edinburgh and more.
Shannon Group CEO, Mary Considine said, “It’s a great pleasure for us to welcome passengers at the airport, as we continue to rebuild our air services after the pandemic.
“We have an exciting new service to Malta taking off on March 27th, while we are also welcoming United Airlines’ daily service to Newark/New York which was suspended in 2020 due to the impact of Covid 19. The resumption of the United service is hugely significant to Shannon Airport following the recent return of the Aer Lingus JFK New York and Boston routes, and further strengthens our transatlantic connectivity to the region.
“We know our loyal business passengers will be happy to see the recommencement of our early morning service to Heathrow, which provides vital hub connectivity for our entire region.
“The commencement of these services also follows our new route announcement to Marseille with Ryanair. We have been working extremely hard with our airline partners to provide exciting and varied destinations for the Mid-West and are delighted to be able to offer our airport customers those all-important sun getaways, city breaks and USA trips.”
The introduction of new, faster, security screening measures at Shannon are set to make the passenger journey through the airport easier. The new system halves the time spent in this area and eliminates the 100ml only rule. Shannon is the only state airport in Ireland to operate this cutting-edge technology.
To coincide with the boost in services, Shannon Group has launched an extensive airport marketing campaign which will reach 97% of the airport’s target market and is expected to appear 19 million times across consumer screens.
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
