Tag Archives: Shannon airport

FAMILIES were reunited, tears were shed and hugs swapped as emigrants returning for Christmas arrived at Shannon this week. On Monday afternoon, the Heathrow-Shannon flight was packed with people arriving home from various corners of the world, with dozens waiting in the terminal to greet them.   Michelle Davitt of Galway was at Shannon to collect her brother, who manages a restaurant in Washington. “He hasn’t been home for Christmas in 12 years, so it’s a long time. He has been home during summers and stuff, but not for Christmas,” she said. She was the only member of her family who knew he was coming, as his arrival was being kept as a seasonal surprise. Deirdre O’Rourke was waiting for her brother, Sean. “He’s coming from England and it’s the first time in 21 years he’s been home for Christmas. We’re really looking forward to it and we’re going to make a show of him.” When he stepped through the …

A very merry Christmas, with an anticipated 15% increase in passenger numbers from 12 months ago, kicked off at Shannon Airport at the weekend, as 2,000 children and parents got to meet Santa in the skies. In an initiative to thank the public for its support over what has been a year of strong growth, as well as raise some much needed funds for two local charities, Shannon Airport, in partnership with Ryanair, made Christmas come early for the excited children as 12 flights took the skies over Saturday and Sunday. Among those getting to savour this special moment were special needs children from the Clare Crusaders Clinic, St Gabriel’s School in Limerick and Mirmear Autism Unit in Tipperary. Demand for the ‘free flights’, the booking fee for which goes to charity, was so high that they booked out in all of 12 minutes, when they went up for grabs two weeks ago. The airport is readying itself for its …

Newly appointed lifeboat operations manager at Kilrush RNLI, Pauline Dunleavy, had her first callout in charge, when an alert was received on Sunday morning. The lifeboat was launched to reports that a plane flying overhead had observed an indication that a fire may have broken out in the cargo hold. In these circumstances it is standard procedure to launch the lifeboat and it gave Pauline a chance to see how fast the lifeboat can be launched and the response of the volunteers in times of emergency. The lifeboat was launched at 9.20am and kept a presence on the river before they learned that the flight, which was en route to France, had landed safely at Shannon Airport and they were stood down. Commenting on the callout, Pauline Dunleavy said, “During my first callout in this new role, it was great to see the lifeboat crew respond to an emergency from the other side. I had the opportunity to see the …

Dear children, I’m delighted that you sent so many lovely letters to The Clare Champion to pass on to me. I know County Clare very well; it’s one of my favourite places in the world and sometimes, if my reindeer get tired, I land my sleigh at Shannon Airport to give them a well-earned rest. It is wonderful to read that all of you understand how important it is to care about others and have reminded me to bring presents for your younger brothers and sisters or other family members. I’ve gone down through my naughty and nice lists and see that all the Clare children have been very good. At the moment, the elves are very busy loading the sleigh with gifts for children all over the world. It’s a lot of weight for the reindeer to pull, even if they do fly through the night sky, but don’t worry, I’ve yet to fail to make the magical journey from …

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions will meet on Wednesday  (tomorrow) with senior diplomats to consider a petition calling for an investigation into the US military and CIA use of Shannon Airport and Irish airspace. Niall Burgess, secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, will address the committee on Ireland’s longstanding policy of military neutrality. Dr Edward Horgan, Margaretta D’Arcy and Dr John Lannon, of the Shannonwatch organisation, addressed the committee on their petition in June, and a delegation from the committee visited Shannon in October to hear a range of perspectives on the issue. Chairman of the committee, Padraig Mac Lochlainn, said, “This petition is a request to the Oireachtas Petitions Committee to examine the legislative and legal international peace and accountability implications that arise from the authorisation by successive Irish governments from 2001 to date, of the use of Shannon airport and Irish airspace for the transit of United States armed …

MICHAEL O’Leary was once known for his scathing attacks on government, but he was singing a different song at Shannon on Monday, at one point saying he’d be worried about a change of administration. Michael Noonan sat beside him at the airport on Monday, and his sense of self worth must have been soaring as O’Leary doled out the love for the Finance Minister. “As someone who is frequently critical of politicians and often quoted as being critical of politicians when they don’t do something intelligent, today is one of those opportunities, rare enough in Ireland where you get the chance to credit politicians when they do something sensible. One of the worst decisions undertaken by the previous Government of this country was at a time of financial crisis to impose a tax on visitors to a peripheral island. The travel tax had a devastating impact on air traffic and tourism in this country. We have lobbied long and hard …

Shannon Airport has again apologised for problems experienced by people trying to book its special Santa Flights and has said booking for the remaining seats will reopen on Wednesday. “We are pleased to announce that Santa Flights will be available to book online via our Shannon Airport website from midday, Wednesday, December 3,” a spokesperson for the airport stated. “We are really sorry for the problems experienced last week in booking the flights. We are really keen to get it right and are finalising new booking arrangements. We are conscious of the demand and we want to ensure that as many families as possible will have the opportunity to book flights. We would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank you once again for your patience while we are working to rectify the situation,” he continued. Booking for the flights opened at 2pm on Friday but many parents were left disappointed as demand caused the booking system …

Shannon Airport has suspended online booking for its Santa Flights until at least Monday after the “unprecedented volume of traffic” caused the site to crash earlier today (Friday). A spokesperson for the airport apologised “for the inconvenience caused” adding that they were “working hard to rectify the situation”. Last year was the first year of the Santa Flights initiative which offers children and families the chance to fly from the airport with Santa transferring from his sleigh to board the aircraft some 15,000ft above sea-level during the 40 minute journeys. Booking opened at 2pm on Friday but many parents were left disappointed as demand caused the booking system to crash. Initial problems on the Shannon Airport website resulted in an announcement on the its Facebook page that bookings could be made instead on the Shannon Heritage site. There were then technical difficulties with this system. Hundreds of people took to Facebook to voice their dissatisfaction. Some said they couldn’t access …