The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
AMERICAN accents will be heard around Clare more frequently from next Thursday, with transatlantic flights finally resuming from Shannon.
With Americans well known as big spenders, it is great news for the Banner’s tourism sector, which has had to cope without them for the last two years.
Maurice Walsh is general manager of Durty Nelly’s in Bunratty and he said the return of the Americans will be very welcome.
“We are looking forward to it with anticipation. It’s going to be a great bonus to the airport and a great bonus to the area. The flights at Shannon at the moment are really just moving Irish people in and out of the country, but the American flights will bring the tourists back into the area.”
He says that he expects business to pick up significantly.
“We have a lot of bookings at the start of next week. It’s the usual St Patrick’s Day rush that comes in through Shannon. They come in and land in Shannon, go all over the West of Ireland then, maybe do Paddy’s Day in Dublin with the parade and things like that, but they want to be on the west coast really. It will be very busy.”
Eighty Americans are booked in for breakfast at Durty Nelly’s on March 11, and he feels this will really kick off the 2022 season.
Mr Walsh also said that Durty Nelly’s recently took on around five staff and will be looking for a few more in the coming weeks.
He said that there are aspects of its business that rely almost solely on the Americans.
“For us in Nelly’s, we would have been selling very little in our merchandise section. We have an online shop but it’s really about the Americans that are coming through, we open our little shop and sell the trinkets and things like that. That’s an area that will pick up for us straight away with the American flights coming back. It’ll be great to have the American accent back in the village here.”
The first Shannon-Boston service of the year will be on March 10, with Shannon-New York resuming the following day. Both routes are being served by Aer Lingus, while United will resume the Shannon-Newark service on March 28.
Meanwhile, the new US Ambassador to Ireland Claire D Cronin visited Shannon on Monday where she met with Shannon Group chairman Pádraig Ó Céidigh and CEO Mary Considine.
Speaking about the ambassador’s visit, Ms Considine said, “Shannon has a proud tradition of welcoming visitors from all over the world. Statesmen and women, movie stars, celebrities and every US president since John F Kennedy have been welcomed at Shannon Airport over the years.
“And we were delighted to continue that tradition by welcoming the first female US Ambassador to Ireland since Jean Kennedy Smith in 1998, who was a regular visitor to Shannon.
“The visit of Ambassador Cronin was timely as we look forward to welcoming US tourists and businesspeople back to Shannon Airport shortly with the restart of our transatlantic air services which are so important for our regional economy.”
During the Ambassador’s visit a special tour was facilitated by the Airport Operations Director Niall Maloney, who showed Ambassador Cronin the airport’s aviation gallery and wall of fame and the famous faces which adorn it.
“She also received a tour of Shannon Duty Free, the world’s first duty free and was given a demonstration of the new airport security screening system – the first of its kind in any state airport, which is halving dwell time in this area.
“The Ambassador met with the airport’s US Customs and Border Protection team and received a tour of the facility, which was the first US immigration pre-inspection facility in Europe back in 1986 before advancing to a full pre-clearance operation in 2009. In 2010, it subsequently became the first in the world to offer full preclearance for private aircraft.
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.
