Tag Archives: IAA

Safety being compromised, controllers allege, in letter to the Minister for Transport SHANNON and Cork airports both had to close during the summer due to a lack of air traffic controllers, and safety is being compromised by forcing those same controllers to work at short notice while tired. That’s part of the message contained in a letter which has been sent to Transport Minister Eamon Ryan by disgruntled air traffic controllers. The IAA employs 332 people in Shannon and at Ballygirreen in Newmarket-on-Fergus, many of them air traffic controllers. The IAA has rejected the claims included in the letter and said that any disagreements can be resolved using existing dispute resolution processes. The letter included stinging criticism of the IAA management, and said that Shannon and Cork Airports both closed during the summer due to staff shortages, which it claimed were brought about because of long term abuse of staff. “As you are aware on a number of occasions an …

FOR two police officers in New Mexico, in February, their fate was in the hands of the search and rescue teams who found them, when their aircraft crashed. A similar situation faced a businessman in 2019, when his aircraft crashed in the middle of the ocean.  All three were successfully rescued and returned to safety, thanks in no small way to the team at the IAA North Atlantic Communications Centre in Ballygirreen. Using the latest technology, they were able to direct the search and rescue crews to the exact locations of the crashed aircraft. One member of that team is Paula Quinn, who has 12 years’ experience in the sector, firstly as radio officer and now as a watch manager. Paula explains that it is vital the locations of all aircraft are monitored at all times and that until recently, it was difficult to get exact, real-time locations for aircraft flying over the oceans. “Monitoring of these aircraft relied solely …

COMMERCIAL movements at Shannon Airport last month were down by more than two thirds on July of last year, but the decline was actually smaller than that seen in April, May or June. During the month Shannon saw 850 commercial movements, compared to 1,976 in July of 2019. This is a decline of 67.2% year on year, but in April, May and June the year on year declines were far worse, at 81.9%, 87% and 83.5%. July had seen Ryanair restart some services from Shannon, albeit with relatively little demand due to quarantining restrictions and government advice against travel. The picture was quite similar at Dublin and Cork, which both saw steep year on year declines, but the drop-off in July at both airports was less than in April, May and June. In a statement the Irish Aviation Authority said that there were some positive developments last month. “The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has confirmed that July was another poor …

With the Government hosting a series of All-Ireland sectoral dialogues to assess how the UK’s decision to exit from the EU may impact on this country, Shannon Chamber is taking a similar approach to the aerospace sector. The business group has invited the CEO of the Irish Aviation Authority to address members at a breakfast briefing in the Inn at Dromoland on Thursday, February 9. Shannon Chamber’s chief executive Helen Downes said, “As highlighted in the National Aviation Policy for Ireland, published in 2015, aviation plays a crucial role in Ireland’s economy and, as an island nation,we are more dependent on aviation than our trading partners. “This 2015 report pointed to the overall value of the sector to Ireland’s economy – €4.1bn to our GDP: €1.9bin directly from aviation, €1.3bn through the supply chain and €0.9bn from associated spending by people employed in aviation. “It supports 26,000 jobs directly and a further 16,000 in the supply chain.Ireland’s tourism, which is …

WHILE figures released by the Irish Aviation Authority in recent days point to a terrible month of April at Shannon Airport, a spokesman for the Banner airport said they are actually quite misleading and that Shannon is on something on a roll. The Irish Aviation Authority figures showed that the number of traffic movements at Shannon in April was 1,454, down by over 20% on April of 2014. Their figures also showed that for the year to date there were 5,010 movements, down by 7.2% on the first four months of 2014. However a spokesman for the airport said that passenger numbers are actually rising at Shannon. “Shannon Airport has enjoyed another promising start to the year, with overall passenger numbers up by 16% by the end of April compared to the same period last year. Already for the first 10 days in May the Airport is showing a five per cent increase in passenger numbers. Regarding the IAA figures, …

THERE was some more good news for Shannon on Wednesday, when it emerged that the number of flight movements there in September were up be 5.5% compared to the same month last year. The two other State airports, Cork and Dublin, also saw increases, of 5.2% and 6.6% respectively. Interestingly, the average number of daily movements at Shannon was just behind the average at Cork, with the numbers being 60 and 62. Both are way behind Dublin, where the average daily figure was 498. September was the seventh month in a row that traffic at Dublin increased and Irish Aviation Authority CEO Eamonn Brennan said; “This sustained growth is very encouraging news for Dublin Airport and the wider economy. September was also a good month for Shannon, up 5.5% year on year. There is some way to go to catch up with previous levels during the peak years but 2013 is a step in the right direction.” Total flights in …