Shannon Airport

Shannon International Airport Aerfort na Sionnainne
File:Shannonairportcorporate.gif
IATA: SNN ICAO: EINN
Summary
Airport type	Commercial
Operator	Dublin Airport Authority
Serves	Shannon, County Clare
Elevation AMSL	46 ft / 14 m
Coordinates	52°42′N 8°55′W
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 06/24 10,496 3,200 Asphalt 13/31 5,642 1,720 Asphalt

Shannon International Airport (IATA: SNN, ICAO: EINN), or Aerfort na Sionnainne in Irish is one of Ireland's primary three airports (along with Dublin Airport and Cork Airport). It is the second busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland (after Dublin) with 3.62 million passengers in 2007. The airport is located in Shannon, County Clare, around Template:Km to mi from Ennis and Template:Km to mi from Limerick City.

The largest operator at the airport is low-fares airline Ryanair, which will base a total of five aircraft at the airport in 2008 operating over 30 routes during the summer season. Around 60% of passengers at Shannon travel on Ryanair. The airport has U.S. border preclearance services, enabling US Bound passengers to have their paperwork dealt with before their flight, saving time upon arrival. Dublin and Shannon are the only two European airports with such facilities.

The airport has the longest runway in Ireland, and was used as a training airfield for Concorde. The airport continues to be used regularly for training purposes by several airlines, and is listed as an emergency landing site for the NASA Space Shuttle.

History

In the late 1930s, transatlantic air traffic was dominated by Flying Boats and the 'European Terminal' was at Foynes on the south side of the Shannon Estuary. However, it was realised that changing technology would require a runway and airport.

In 1936 the Irish Government confirmed that it would develop a 3.1 km² (760 acre) site at Rineanna for the country's first transatlantic airport. Allegations persist that the placement of the airport on the North bank of the Shannon river rather than the South close to where the Foynes terminal was established was due to the fact that the then Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Eamon DeValera represented Clare (on the North bank) in the Dail (Irish Parliament) and the subsequent jobs created during the construction phase and in the operation of the facility would benefit the Taoiseach's constituents and assist in increasing his vote in any election.

The land on which the airport was to be built was boggy, and on October 8, 1936 work began to drain the land. By 1942 a serviceable airport had been established, named Shannon Airport. By 1945 the existing runways at Shannon were extended to allow transatlantic flights to land. When World War II ended the airport was ready to be used by the many new post-war commercial airlines of Europe and North America. On September 16, 1945 the first transatlantic proving flight, a Pan Am DC-4, landed at Shannon from New York. On October 24, the first scheduled commercial flight passed through Shannon Airport. It was a Douglas DC-4 which belonged to American Overseas Airlines. Trans World Airways (TWA), Pan American Airways (Pan Am) and BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) also began operations in 1945.

The number of international carriers rose sharply in succeeding years as Shannon became well known as the gateway between Europe and the Americas. Limitation of aircraft range necessitated refuelling stops on many journeys. Shannon became the most convenient and obvious stopping point before and after the trip across the Atlantic. In 1947 the Customs Free Airport Act established Shannon as the world's first Duty Free Airport, where transit and embarking passengers were exempt from normal customs procedures. Shannon became a model for other Duty Free facilities throughout the world. In the same year, the airport was finally completed.

In 1947 Aer Lingus decided to begin its own transatlantic service. Five Lockheed Constellation aircraft were delivered with the inaugural flight due to take place on March 17, 1948. However financial difficulties and the election of a new government in Ireland meant the plan had to be dropped. Over the next ten years even more new airlines and aircraft still continued to operate out of Shannon. In 1958 Aer Lingus finally began services to the United States using Lockheed Constellations.

The 1960s proved to be a tough decade for Shannon Airport. Transit traffic fell sharply as there was no longer the need for planes crossing the Atlantic to re-fuel at Shannon because they could now reach their European destinations non-stop with longer-range jets. Alitalia, Sabena, Lufthansa and KLM all ended their transit stops at Shannon. However, while some airlines were ending their Shannon services Aer Lingus expanded its transatlantic routes with Boeing 720s and later Boeing 707 aircraft.

In 1969 it was announced that Aer Rianta would be given responsibility for Shannon Airport as well as for Cork Airport. Passenger numbers at the airport reached 460,000 that same year and it was decided that a new enlarged terminal would have to be built. Introduction of the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet also meant that better facilities were needed. The first commercial operation of a Boeing 747 took place in April 1971 while the new terminal officially opened in May of that year.

In 1974 a major increase in fuel prices had a dramatic effect on transit traffic. Pan Am ended all its scheduled operations at Shannon. It did however continue charter services through the airport. Other airlines also pulled out of Shannon.

The 1980s saw a number of new airlines arrive at Shannon. Aeroflot of Russia used the airport as a fuel stop while Delta Air Lines began new services to Atlanta and New York. In 1986 a US Immigration pre-clearance facility was opened at Shannon, thus cutting down on the time spent queueing on arrival in the United States. 1986 saw Pan Am return to Shannon operating scheduled services.

Recent Years

In 2004, a separate airport authority for Shannon, the Shannon Airport Authority, was set up in shadow form. Under the State Airports Act 2004, this company must prepare a business plan for Shannon Airport before taking over operation of the airport (from Dublin Airport Authority) not earlier than May 2005.

Shannon Airport taken from an Aer Lingus plane.

On 27 September 2006 an Airbus A380 landed at Shannon as part of its testing prior to commercial launch making Shannon one of the first airports in the world to have facilitated the aircraft.

During 2006 passenger numbers increased to 3.7 million, a record level for the airport and a 12% increase on the 2005 total of 3.3 million. Freight carried increased by 5% in 2006, a reversal of the previous downward trend in freight throughput at the airport. Transatlantic traffic increased 10% during the year, a significant increase on the 2005 increase of 1%.

In August 2007, Aer Lingus announced it was to end its 4 daily direct flights from Shannon to London Heathrow Airport. The airline will use these Heathrow slots to serve its new hub at Belfast International Airport. The move promoted considerable controversy, as recorded in the Irish media.

This will leave Ryanair as the only airline operating direct flights from the airport to London. However, as of February 2008, CityJet provides a twice daily service to Paris-Charles de Gaulle, maintaining worldwide transfer connectivity from Shannon.

In 2007 Delta Airlines also announced that they are to recommence the Atlanta service from the airport.

The "Shannon Stopover"

The United States - Ireland bilateral or Air Services Agreement requires that air carriers operating between the United States and Ireland must provide capacity into Dublin Airport and Shannon. The rule came from the days when aircraft did not have a long range and were forced to stop at Shannon. The rule used to require a stop in both directions but was relaxed to require one direct Shannon flight for each direct Dublin flight. Accordingly some services are operated US-Dublin-Shannon-US. A similar bilateral rule exists between Ireland and Canada. There are exceptions for some charter services.

The first Air Services Agreement with the US in 1945 only permitted flights to Shannon and only permitted Irish airlines to serve Boston, Chicago and New York Idlewild (now JFK). At the end of 1971 the US Civil Aeronautics Board announced that unless US planes were allowed to operate into Dublin Airport they proposed to ban Aer Lingus from landing in New York. This provoked an instant reaction from the Shannon staff. Eventually an agreement was reached which allowed one US carrier to service Dublin Airport through Shannon. TWA was the designated airline.

In 1990, the U.S.-Ireland bilateral agreement was changed to allow Irish airlines to serve Los Angeles and additional US airlines to serve Dublin via Shannon. The most recent amendment in 1993 allowed airlines to provide direct transatlantic services to Dublin.

The Shannon lobby were outraged at the loss of the Stopover Status; however, in reality little has changed. The September 11th terrorist attacks in New York severely threatened the future of Shannon Airport. Aer Lingus and Delta Air Lines reduced their services while other airlines pulled out completely. However, since then a number of additional airlines have started new services, including US Airways and Air Canada.

A dispute with the European Commission is holding up any further renegotiation of the bilateral agreements, since in their consultation document on the "third package" for liberalisation of air transport the Commission proposes (at point 33) the removal of existing prohibitions on non-Irish EU airlines from operating transatlantic services in accordance with judgements of the European Court of Justice. It is also believed the Commission requires the "Shannon stopover" to be fully removed rather than further relaxed, because of the Commission's desire (at point 34) to take over negotiations with non-EU countries as it does in other areas of trade, which would remove the stopover as a matter for the Irish Government to control directly.

Politicians, unions and business groups in the Shannon area believe the EU Commission would use its mandate to sacrifice the Shannon stop, fearing most existing services would relocate to Dublin if not required to serve Shannon. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] The powerful Dublin Chamber of Commerce called for the end of the stopover in 2003. Aer Lingus, Ireland's sole scheduled transatlantic carrier as of 2005, is in favour of air service liberalisation, believing that the ability to serve more US markets would be more advantageous to its future than the current regime.

On November 11, 2005 an agreement was reached between Norman Mineta, the United States Secretary of Transportation and Martin Cullen, the Irish Minister of Transport regarding a transitional deal beginning in November 2006 and ending in April 2008 which eliminates restriction on cargo services and for passenger services reduces the stopover requirement and increases the number of US ports Irish airlines can serve by three. At the end of this period, no restrictions will be placed on scheduled services between any airport in one country to any airport in the other.

In March 2007 the EU and USA announced that an agreement had been reached on an open skies aviation policy, which will come into effect from March 30th 2008. This will effectively lead to the complete abolition of the Shannon Stopover from this date. However, as part of the transitional deal agreed between Ireland and the United States on November 11th 2005, the restriction on cargo services is abolished and the restriction on passenger services reduces from a 1/1 basis to a 1/3 basis with immediate effect, and the number of US ports Irish airlines can serve increases by three. This situation will remain in place until March 30th 2008. So far, American Airlines and Air Canada have pulled out of Shannon as a result of the ending of the stopover. American Airlines flew from Boston (2005-2006) and Chicago (2006-2007). Air Canada served Toronto. Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines have also reduced their operations at the airport with Continental re-routing one of the two daily flights to Newark to Dublin and Delta reducing its Atlanta flight to a seasonal basis. On 10th March 2008 Aer Lingus warned that, due to poor load factors on its winter transatlantic flights it may have no option but to reduce the services to Boston, Chicago and New York to summer only in the future.

Foreign military aircraft at Shannon

Shannon Airport also has a history of foreign military use. A large part of its business is military stopovers, currently almost all American; however the airport was also frequently used by the Soviet military until the 1990s. There were some official restrictions, such as no weaponry being allowed and uniformed foreign soldiers remaining out of public areas. However they were rarely enforced, and uniformed U.S. soldiers can be seen occasionally in the public areas of the airport . Shannon saw military transports throughout the Cold War and during both Gulf Wars. Recently the airport has been the subject of protests, direct actions and High Court actions over such usage.

In April 2003 the High Court noted in Horgan v Ireland that for Ireland to be a Neutral Power under international law, it must prevent "belligerents from making use of neutral territories and neutral resources for their military purposes". The Irish Government however expressly invited the United States to use Ireland's airports and airspace for its "long campaign against terrorism", waiving all previous restrictions regarding foreign military aircraft. The provisions of Bunreacht na hÉireann (Constitution of Ireland) which affirm Ireland's commitment to the rule of international law were stated by the government as being only "aspirational".

A further High Court judicial review (Dubsky vs Ireland) relating to Shannon Airport and the U.S.-led attack against Afghanistan was heard in February 2005. After much delay, Mrs. Justice Fidelma Macken (since appointed to the Supreme Court) re-scheduled judgement for December 13 2005. She turned down the legal challenge. Though her written judgement is still not available, the judge did say this in court: "I have found that on the current materials before the court that the applicant has not satisfied me that the events occurring in Afghanistan constitute a war for purposes of Article 28.3.1."

On 29th January 2003 an Irishwoman, Mary Kelly, took an axe to the nosecone and fuel lines of a US Navy jet. After her arrest and trial she was acquitted by a jury. However the Irish Director of Public Prosecutors sought a retrial in a higher court. A group of Catholic Worker activists to become known as the Pitstop Ploughshares were tried in March 2005 for damaging a United States Navy C-40 Clipper aircraft at the airport in February 2003 but the trial was stopped by Judge Frank MacDonnell on the sixth day for reasons the media were ordered not to disclose. A second trial beginning in October 2005 was ended without a verdict on the tenth day due to links between the trial judge, Donagh MacDonagh, and President of the United States George W. Bush. The third trial ended on July 25, 2006 with an acquittal for all five defendants on all charges.

Financial figures released in April 2005 show that the airport lost €2.5m, whilst the transport of US troops made an income of €18m for the airport. In May 2005 the Minister for Transport revealed that the state pays the €10m annual cost to air-traffic control due to US military aircraft in Irish airspace [7], under the Eurocontrol agreement. During 2005, over 330,000 US troops stopped over at Shannon en route to or from Afghanistan or Iraq, leading to concern [8] in Ireland about this apparent breach of its policy of neutrality.

Rendition flights

On 6 December 2005, the BBC programme Newsnight alleged that Shannon was used on at least 33 occasions by United States Central Intelligence Agency flights, thought to be part of a US policy called extraordinary rendition, referring to the non-judicial transfers of prisoners to other jurisdictions, including those where interrogation routinely uses torture. The New York Times reported the number to be 33, though referring to "Ireland" rather than Shannon, while Amnesty International has alleged the number of flights to be 50, a figure they published in response to Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern, who had pledged to investigate rendition if presented with evidence.

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denied [9] that the US transfers prisoners knowing that they will be tortured. Her statement (transcript) included the following:

The United States does not transport, and has not transported, detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture. The United States does not use the airspace or the airports of any country for the purpose of transporting a detainee to a country where he or she will be tortured. The United States has not transported anyone, and will not transport anyone, to a country when we believe he will be tortured. Where appropriate, the United States seeks assurances that transferred persons will not be tortured.

However, Rice refuses to give confirm or deny reports of secret detention facilities. A week earlier, Dr. Rice assured Foreign Minister Ahern that the airport had not been used for "untoward" purposes, or as a transit point for terror suspects.

Allegations of State Aid

The Irish Sunday Independent newspaper reported in October 2005 that Shannon Airport is the subject of an investigation by the European Commission into incentives given to Ryanair to operate a base at the airport. Incentives provided by State owned airports such as Shannon are mandated by EU legislation to be reported to the Commission by the Irish Department of Transport. A similar case is ongoing in the European Courts regarding a deal between Ryanair and Brussels South Charleroi Airport in Wallonia (Belgium).

Facilities

The current airport terminal was opened in the year 1999 by the then Minister of Transport Mary O'Rourke. This facility has 40 check-in desks, 5 baggage belts, 16 boarding gates and 9 air-bridges.There are nearly 40 aircraft parking stands. The car-parks can hold over 5000 cars. As mentioned above, the airport expects to have full US Customs and Border Protection facilities by the end of 2008.

Ground Transportation

Shannon Airport is the end destination of the N19 national route, which connects to the N18 Limerick–Ennis–Galway route. A new dual-carriageway section of the N19 was finished in 2004, bypassing Shannon Town, and a new interchange and dual-carriageway north to Ennis were completed in 2007 on the N18.

Regular bus services connect the airport to Limerick, Ennis and Galway. Like most airports in Ireland, Shannon currently has no rail connection. Recently, discussions took place regarding the possibility of a rail link to Shannon Airport. However, the Irish Government ruled it out due to the high cost which they estimated at €800million. [10]

Accidents and incidents

On 5 September, 1954, KLM Flight 633 from Amsterdam to New York, which was using Shannon as a refueling stop, crashed just after take-off into a mudbank just next to the airport. 28 people on board died.

On 14 August, 1958, another KLM Flight also en route from Amsterdam to New York crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, after a refueling stop at Shannon.

Various minor incidents have led to flights making emergency landings at Shannon, as it is usually the closest airport for flights from eastern North America to western Europe.

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled passenger airlines

• Air France
  • operated by CityJet (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
• Aer Lingus (Boston, Chicago-O'Hare, Dublin, New York-JFK)
• Belavia (Minsk)
• Continental Airlines (Newark)
• Delta Air Lines (Atlanta [seasonal], New York-JFK)
• Ryanair (Alicante, Berlin-Schönefeld, Biarritz, Birmingham, Bristol, Brussels-Charleroi, Carcassonne, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Faro, Fuerteventura, Girona, Gdansk [Starts November], Glasgow-Prestwick, Katowice [Starts Novemeber], Kaunas, Krakow, Leeds-Bradford, Liverpool, Lodz [Starts November], London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Málaga, Manchester, Milan-Bergamo, Murcia, Nantes, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Beauvais, Riga, Tenerife-South, Venice-Treviso, Weeze, Wrocław)
• US Airways (Philadelphia) [seasonal]

Charter passenger airlines

• Air Europa (Arrecife)
• Air Mediterranee (Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Paris CDG, Strasbourg, Toulouse)
• Air Transat (Toronto-Pearson) [seasonal]
• Dubrovnik Airline (Dubrovnik, Split)
• Futura Gael (Almeria)
• Futura International Airways (Arrecife, Las Palmas, Malaga, Reus, Palma de Mallorca)
• Iberworld (Arrecife, Bourgas, Faro, Ibiza, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Reus)
• Monarch Airlines (Faro)
• Onur Air (Bodrum, Izmir)
• Spanair (Palma)
• Swiss (Zurich)

Details correct as per 2008 Summer Schedule

Cargo airlines

• DHL (East Midlands)
• TNT (Cork, Dublin, Liege Bierset)
• UPS (Cologne/Bonn, Dublin) Operated by Star Air Europe
• Air Contractors Ireland (Dublin, Paris-Charles De Gaulle)

External links

• Shannon International Airport
• The "Shannon Portal" Interactive Installation