Tag Archives: Airport

CENTRAL Statistics Office figures show that Shannon had 12,648 flights in all last year, while more than 41% of the airport’s passengers were on their way to or coming from London. Shannon had 1,308,242 passengers in 2013, while this figure does not include the numbers that transited through Shannon, such as US military troops. The figure was up by around three per cent on 2012. While Dublin airports 20.1 million passengers dwarfed the level of traffic at all other Irish airports, Shannon was also a long way below Cork’s 2.25 million. However it was far higher than Knock, which had 665,558 passengers. The most popular route was Shannon-Heathrow, on which 258,250 people travelled. Heathrow is the only European hub to which Shannon has connectivity and many of those travelling on the route would be going to or coming from other parts of the world. London Stansted was the second most popular route, with 183,481 people travelling on it, while 104,736 …

CONTROVERSIAL TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly were arrested earlier today at Shannon Airport. A spokesman for peace group ShannonWatch told the Clare Champion that the two TDs had been looking to “inspect” two US military aircraft that were airside. He said the arrest had been around midday. A police spokesman confirmed that the TDs were arrested and brought to Shannon Garda Station. The two TDs have been strong opponents of the US military use of Shannon and have been supporters of activist Margaretta D’Arcy, who was released from prison last week, following a previous incursion onto the Shannon runway.  

The combined American Airlines and US Airways airline has this Monday launched its first service at Shannon Airport following the airlines’ merger last year with the recommencement of the seasonal summer service to Philadelphia Airport. The service, which runs until September 2, returns after its successful launch for the 2013 summer season under the US Airways flag. The route will complement additional US services from Shannon to Boston, Chicago, Newark and JFK New York Airports this summer. Philadelphia is also significant addition to the summer season schedule at Shannon as it is one of the merged airline’s leading hub airports, offering connections to well over 100 destinations across 25 countries, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Passengers flying from Shannon also have the benefit of availing of US Customs and Border Protection preclearance, avoiding delays on arrival in the US. Shannon in 2009 became the first airport outside North America to secure US preclearance services.  

DUE to industrial action by Aer Lingus cabin crew, 12 flights to and from Shannon today (Friday)  have been cancelled. These were to New York, Boston, Heathrow and Faro and all customers were offered the option of rescheduling their flights or obtaining a refund. While an invitation to talks was issued to Impact (the union representing the cabin crew) this week, spokesman Niall Shanahan said, on Wednesday, it had come too late to prevent disruption. “For certain, the strike will go ahead on Friday. The situation we’re in is that we don’t know when the talks are going to take place, we don’t know what’s on the agenda, other than the company has indicated they want to talk about the rosters issue. We don’t know how fast they can process this and we don’t know to what degree there’s going to be good faith shown in developing a solution to this. With 48 hours to go, it would be unrealistic to expect …

UNITED Airlines has re-introduced its summer Shannon-Chicago service. 2013 was the first year of it and this summer it has been extending, running from May 23 to September 15. The frequency of it will be five flights weekly from May 23 to June 16, daily from June 17 to August 18, five weekly again from August 19 to September 1 and four a week from September 2 to September 15. “We’re delighted to re-introduce and extend our summer service between Shannon and Chicago in response to the great customer support we received last year,” said Yvonne Muldoon, United’s sales manager for Ireland. “We are pleased to offer more flexibility and choice for our Irish customers, not only to Chicago, but to over 300 destinations across the Americas.” There will be 169 seats on the flights, which will depart Shannon at 11am and arrive in Chicago at 1.15pm the same day, local time. The return flight will leave Chicago at 6.25pm …

A FLASHMOB at Shannon Airport has become an internet sensation, with over 165,000 views on Wednesday afternoon. The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance were behind the Flashmob, which was organised to mark the start of Shannon’s summer season, which sees the airport’s biggest number of new routes for a decade. It can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv96XV2oOp4

 By Owen Ryan SHANNON has had a turbulent relationship with Ryanair for nearly ten years but things are going relatively well at the moment, with the airline kicking off several new routes this week. Shannon CEO Neil Pakey acknowledged that when he arrived last year, it wasn’t so positive. “I think it’s fair to say that when I joined the relationship between Ryanair and the airport wasn’t where it should be or could be. It was about rebuilding it in order to deliver some passenger growth. We worked with the industry and we had success when the Minister for Finance suspended the travel tax. In the meantime we’ve been talking to the airlines about what we could do at Shannon if we all work together.” Even before Ryanair began slashing its Shannon services five years ago there were people saying that the airport was overly reliant on the low cost carrier, an outfit which was hardly going to wait around …

Owen Ryan THE Attorney General urged gardaí at Shannon not to search US military aircraft, it was claimed in a petition to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions, which met last week. The petition came from Doctor Edward Horgan and 19 associated parties. They called for an investigation into the use of the airport and Irish airspace by the US military and the CIA, focusing on Ireland’s involvement. Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan praised Doctor Horgan at the meeting, saying he believed the allegations. He also said that acting as a whistleblower isn’t easy. Also at the meeting, Sinn Féin TD, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, said some action is required on the petition, which sought an investigation on the US use of Shannon and extraordinary rendition, focusing on the Irish Government’s involvement. “We have received correspondence from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade but I do not think it addresses all the points raised by Dr Horgan,” he …