Shannon Airport is unique both in its
location and its place in the history of world aviation. Of all European
Airports it is situated at the most western point, making it the ideal stepping
stone between the old world and the new. Chosen for its geographical position
as the transatlantic gateway between Europe and America, Shannon was designated
as Ireland’s Transatlantic Airport at its inception by the Irish Government.
From
the airport has grown a vast infrastructure of enormous importance to Ireland’s
Mid-west region which includes an attractive and growing tourism enterprise as
well as the world’s first duty free industrial zone.
The airport itself covers about 2,000 acres
in County Clare on the north bank of the Shannon Estuary and is located
approximately 24 kilometres (15 miles) west of Limerick City and a similar
distance south of Ennis.
Shannon Airport meets all the requirements of
a first class international airport and much more. Runway (06-24) is capable of
taking the largest type of aircraft now in operation. This facility is used by
scheduled and non-scheduled carriers. The Shannon region has temperate and
varied weather conditions and is an ideal location for an Airport.
There are almost 2000 people employed at
the airport (not counting the nearby Industrial Estate) of which the airport
itself employs about 270. The remainder are employed by a number of State
Services including the Irish Aviation Authority, the Meteorological Service,
Immigration, Customs, Agriculture, and Public Health as well as commercial
services such as airlines, aircraft handling agencies, car hire, tourism
interests, taxi hire and fuel companies. Annually, In 2013 Shannon handled a
passenger throughput of over 1.4 million people with over 1.6m scheduled to use
the airport in 2014, nearly 50,000 metric tones of freight is transported
through its cargo area.
Well over a 100,000 passengers who travel
through Shannon do so as transit passengers, breaking their journey at Shannon
while travelling between Europe, the Middle East and North America.
During 2013 there were 24,000 aircraft
movements with 20,000 of these being a combination of scheduled and
non-scheduled aircraft with the remainder being principally training flights.
Dr Brendan O’Regan
Dr. Brendan O'Regan was born in
Sixmilebridge, County Clare in 1917. In
1943, he was appointed as Catering Comptroller at Foynes flying boat base. He
was later transferred to Rineanna Airport (now Shannon International Airport)
where he continued as Catering Comptroller. Dr. O'Regan established the world's
first Duty-Free shops at Shannon Airport in 1947. In 1951 he established the
Shannon College of Hotel Management. Many hoteliers and senior managers at top
hotels around the world are testimony to the success of the Shannon College
with the college still going strong. In 1954 he set up a direct mail-order
shopping service to expand sales into North America. Brendan and his senior
management established in 1961 Ireland's only regional development agency,
Shannon Free Airport Development Company (SFADCO; later Shannon Development),
and the Shannon Free Zone, which attracted industry from around the world and
has today the single biggest collection of US industries on the island.
History of Shannon Airport the gateway to
the West of Ireland
1930’s
The
townland of Rineanna (in Gaelic this translates to the “meeting place of the
birds”), Co Clare had a good reputation back in the early 1930’s as a spot for
wild duck and geese shooting along the north side of the Shannon Estuary. The
same muddy flat land near the sea which gave the area its ideal hunting
qualities also presented the authorities with the large flat terrain which was
perfect for aviation.
Transatlantic aviation in the Shannon
Estuary first commenced, however, with a seaplane base at Foynes. In October
1935 the Irish Government took a decision to initiate a survey "to find
suitable bases for the operation of seaplanes and landplanes on a transatlantic
service". The Department of Defence which provided technical advice on
aviation to the Civil Aviation Section of the Department of Industry was given
the task.
On 21 November 1935 a survey party set out
for the West of Ireland and surveyed sites as far north as Athlone and south to
Askeaton. Among the sites for a seaplane base which were considered were: the
Shannon just below Limerick, Lough Derg, Lough Corrib, Tralee Bay, Kenmare Bay,
Lough Ree and Valentia. But it was Foynes, near the mouth of the Fergus River
which was finally selected. Its good sheltered anchorage and its proximity to
long open stretches of water convinced the surveyors Foynes was the best
choice.
During the surveying for the land site, the
team split up in their efforts to find a suitable location. From Knockbeagh
Point, one of the groups discovered that there was a land area to the west
which, though wet was suitable for landplanes. The survey team reconvened in
Athlone and having examined the reports went to Rineanna to survey. Following a
satisfactory report, the Government approved the choice of Rineanna and
directed that work should begin immediately.
The first priority was drainage to remove
the surface water from the site and to construct embankments to prevent
flooding of the airfield because of its proximity to the tidal river
Shannon. Several hundred men were
employed to dig narrow lateral drains for the 135 miles of so of pipes which
were laid in parallel lines 50ft apart over almost the whole area of the
airfield site and to excavate catchment drains to collect water from the
surface of the site.
At that time all indications were that
regular aerial travel between Europe and the U.S. would be initially by
flying-boat and accordingly, the base at Rineanna was designed to cater for
both land-planes and flying boats. Construction
work commenced to build embankments and a break-water to provide for a seaplane
base and to protect the airfield site from flooding from the Shannon River.
Four grass runways were marked out, the
longest being a mile in length and four hundred yards wide, running almost
southwest to northeast. The other three grass runways were two hundred yards
wide and were laid out so that there was an angle of approximately 45 degrees
between each adjacent runway.
Colonel Charles E. Lindbergh was reputed to be
in Europe as an agent of the U.S. airline Pan Am surveying locations to
establish an Atlantic gateway into Europe from America. In December 1936
Lindbergh flew over the site in his Miles Mohawk and later walked over part of
the area with Minister for Defence, Frank Aiken, and officials from the
Departments of Industry and Commerce, Defence and the Board of Works. Great
satisfaction was expressed concerning the suitability of the site.
Developments in aviation during World War 1
ensured land planes and not flying-boats were to be the future of aviation,
therefore the mooring basin and the east breakwater which were being
constructed for flying boats at Rineanna were never quite finished. Construction of the embankments continued, to
protect the site from the river Shannon and to form a drainage lagoon for
surface water from the western headland of the airport site.
On Thursday the 18th May 1939 the first
aircraft landed at Rineanna, the aircraft was the Irish Air Corps Aero Anson
A43.
Less than two months later the first
passenger aircraft landed at Rineanna on the 11th July 1939 a Belgian airliner
(a tri-motor Savoia Marchetti S-73 of Sabena).
The Crew and eight passengers alighted from the aircraft and were
cheered by the assembled workmen before driving off in cars to Foynes, where
they were to board Pan American’s ‘Yankee Clipper’ Boeing 314 flight to the
United States the following evening.
News quickly spread of the presence of the Belgian airliner and during
the course of the following day hundreds of sightseers crowded into
Rineanna. By the time the Sabena crew
had returned from Foynes to Rineanna at 9.15pm that evening there were almost
500 people gathered to watch the aircraft take off on her return journey to
Croydon onto Brussels.
1940’s
Though World War II would contribute much
to aviation, it delayed the development of the new Shannon Airport. During the
War, Imperial Airways, the forerunner of B.O.A.C. and later British Airways,
operated flights into Shannon from Bristol, to coincide with the flying boats
operating to and from Foynes.
Catering facilities were provided both in
Foynes and Shannon Airport as passengers from England travelling on to the U.S.
through the Foynes terminal arrived by land plane at Shannon Airport. After lunch passengers were conveyed by road
coach to link up with the flying boats out of Foynes each evening. Similarly, passengers off the flying boats
for England joined the land planes out of Shannon. To provide a comfortable catering service
worthy of the country, a complete catering staff had to be based at both
centres. The first chef to work at the
Foynes terminal was William Sheridan the creator of “Irish Coffee”. By the mid-forties, the use of flying boats
to carry commercial flights was dying out and by 1946 the airboat facility at
Foynes was closed. The catering facility in Shannon from that point on offered
fresh Irish food to the weary travellers at all hours of the day and
night. The Airport was the point of
entry for all international air carriers as it was the shortest route to Europe
and the Middle East.
The first scheduled flight from the United
States landed in Shannon Airport on the 24th October 1945. The aircraft was the
“Flagship London” an American Overseas Airlines (AOA) DC4. “Flagship London”
had flown from Gander to Shannon in 8 hours 20 minutes and broadcasts had been
made from the aircraft while en route which were relayed over a nationwide
radio network in the United States. In
1945 Shannon also began receiving scheduled aircraft from Trans World Airways
(TWA) and Pan American Airways (Pan AM).
The number of international carriers using
Shannon rose sharply in the succeeding years as the airport became well-known
for providing the gateway between Europe and the Americas. Limitations of the
operating range of aircraft at the time (DC4, DC6, Lockheed 749) necessitated
the interruptions of journeys for refuelling.
Shannon became the most convenient and obvious point before and after the
flight across the Atlantic and most of the airport’s income derived from
providing fuel, food and accommodation for these aircraft and their passengers.
1947 was an important year for Shannon
Airport. Construction of terminal facilities and runways were finally completed
and the Government passed the Customs Free Airport Act by which transit and
embarking passengers, goods and aircraft were exempt from normal customs
procedures. Shannon Airport had become
the first Customs Free Airport in the World and established Shannon as an
International Industrial and Distribution Centre and stimulated further traffic
growth.
The Shannon Sales and Catering Organisation
were licensed by the Irish Department of Transport, enabling Shannon to conduct
commercial and catering activities at the airport.
In 1947 the world’s first duty-free shop
opened at Shannon Airport, and began as a simple kiosk measuring just a few
square metres, selling souvenirs and gifts.
The Duty Free shop became an immediate success and has been copied
worldwide.
1950’s
In 1951 the first Airport Duty Free Liquor
Shop was opened. It started as a ship’s store where airline stewards purchased
supplies for re-sale to passengers when the aircraft became airborne. The same
applied to cigarettes and tobacco which began as supplies for crew only. Later, passengers were allowed to make direct
purchases at tax free prices on a restricted basis and soon Shannon became,
famous for having the only airport duty free shop in the world. In the beginning,
Shannon “Duty Free” applied only to liquor and tobacco, but it rapidly
developed into an impressively large number of tax – free departments, which is
how it remains today for Transatlantic flights.Throughout the 1950’s, aircraft
on the North Atlantic were still piston engined. In 1959, however, long range jet aircraft
such as the Boeing 720 and Boeing 707 and the DC8 began operating on the route.
1960’s
To ensure that Shannon facilities would
serve these long range aircraft, a new runway was commissioned in 1961 which
would have a length of 10,000 feet.
During the construction of the jet runway (06-24) a small fisherman’s
house was taken down brick by brick and reconstructed in the shadow of the
newly renovated Bunratty Castle. From
this grew the major mid-west tourist attraction of the Bunratty Folk Park which
to this day remains one of the top tourist attractions in the country annually.
By 1966, the main runway was extended to
10,500 feet 3,200 metres which is its present length.
In the mid sixties Boeing announced its
plans to produce a “Jumbo” (B747) jet which would be capable of carrying up to
four hundred passengers. This decision affected all major airports as new
facilities had to be provided to service aircraft of this size. Both McDonnell
Douglas and Lockheed also announced intentions to produce wide-bodied aircraft.
Over the years, physical development at
Shannon has been a continual process of adjusting to the latest aviation
technology. Runways which had been adequate to cope with the propeller aircraft
of the late forties and fifties had to be lengthened to cater for jet-age
aircraft. Aircraft parking space reached saturation level with each new wave of
airliners. Increased traffic necessitated building extensions. Terminal
buildings originally designed to handle passenger throughput from propeller
aircraft suddenly became inadequate to cope with the jet-age aircraft’s
increased capacity. As well, air travel became accessible to more and more
people during the 60’s. Air travel was no longer for the elite.From 1945 to
1969 the airport was managed in turn by the Department of Industry and Commerce
and by the Department of Transport. In 1969, the Irish Airport Authority, Aer
Rianta, assumed control of Shannon airport as an agent of Ireland’s Minister
for Transport. Aer Rianta took over just
as it had become obvious that a dramatic reappraisal of Shannon’s terminal
facilities was necessary due to the introduction of wide bodied aircraft. Where
Shannon was geared to handle an aircraft disembarking over 100 passengers per flight,
now it would be required to handle over 300 passengers per aircraft. The Department of Transport’s planners had
realized that a completely new terminal was required for the increased
passenger loads. Government approval for a new facility was obtained in 1968.
1970’s
This new terminal was designed and under
construction within months of the first flight of the Boeing 747 in 1969. Work
was continued that year by Aer Rianta and the facility was ready for operation
in May 1971. The terminal was comprised of two buildings, one a large
rectangular shaped edifice housing a comprehensive range of aircraft
facilities, and a 900 foot long narrow pier building with airbridges extending
out onto the apron. The simplicity of the new building allowed extensions to or
alteration of the buildings as required.
1974 Aer Rianta acquired the Shannon Sales
and Catering Organisation. As well as the commercial and catering operations,
Sales and Catering ran the Shannon Mail Order Company, Castles Banquets and the
Shannon College of Hotel Management.
Shannon did have one enormous drawback, for
all its efforts to maintain the latest technological achievements it was
technology itself which was the greatest threat. The jet engine with its
capacity to reach well into Europe from the Americas seemed to threaten
obsolescence for Shannon. What was the necessity for an airport with a very
small catchment area on the north-western end of the European seaboard, if
aircraft could reach the main centre of Europe without technical stopovers.
Shannon had to reach up into the skies to
attract aircraft Including Airport Duty Free shopping, th a campaign to draw
training flights followed, featuring a top technological airport where noise
pollution would not be a major problem and where weather conditions were varied
though temperate.
Terminal passenger traffic at Shannon had
been adversely affected by the onset of new aircraft technologies, Northern
Ireland troubles, recessions in the United States and by the World Energy
Crisis. In 1974 Aer Rianta initiated an aggressive marketing programme to
attract technical landings by U.S. supplemental and charter airlines. This
proved very successful and the airport survived a very difficult period in its
history.
In 1978, Aer Rianta approached Aeroflot
Moscow with a proposal to store Soviet Aviation Fuel at Shannon for use on the
Soviet airline’s transatlantic services. On 6 July 1979, a formal agreement was
signed in Moscow between Aer Rianta and the U.S.S.R.’s Ministry of Civil
aviation.
1980’s
By June 1980, Aer Rianta had constructed a
dedicated fuel farm at Shannon for the storage of Soviet origin fuel.
The first Aeroflot flight to uplift this
fuel landed at Shannon on 3 July, 1980.
In 1980 the total Aeroflot landings at Shannon was 240, in 1991 the
airline operated 2,000 aircraft through Shannon using their own fuel stocks.
Aeroflot operated flights from Moscow, St Petersburg, Kiev and Minsk to various
cities in the USA as well as Central and South America. The airline had traffic
rights from Shannon to all their Central and South American destinations as
well as Miami, Chicago, Washington D.C. and Gander, Newfoundland.
In 1983 a unique barter fuel agreement was
negotiated between Aer Rianta and the U.S.S.R.’s Ministry of Civil Aviation.
This enabled Aer Rianta to sell Soviet aviation fuel to other airlines which in
turn, offset Aeroflot’s hard currency operating costs at Shannon.
Later in 1987 Aer Rianta would also become
involved in the repainting and refurbishment of Aeroflot aircraft at Shannon
when a dedicated painting hangar and refurbishing facility was constructed at
Shannon and officially opened in August 1988.
With a view to the promotion of technical
transit traffic at Shannon, Aer Rianta approached the U.S. Federal Authorities
in the late 1970’s to establish United States pre-clearance for passengers at
Shannon. It was intended to follow on the lines of such facilities at Canadian
Airports. Following various negotiations which culminated in an
inter-governmental agreement between Ireland and the United States, the U.S.
Immigration Pre-Inspection facility was set up on a trial basis in 1986. This
proved successful, and a permanent facility was constructed and opened in 1988.
It proved very popular with both terminal and transit passengers. It was the
first of its kind in Europe and represented another innovation at Shannon
Airport.
Having achieved so much at Shannon, the
Airport team set their sights higher and sought to use the hard earned
reputation to create commercial opportunities abroad. Early in 1988 Aer Rianta and Aeroflot
established a joint venture company, “Aerofirst”, to set up and operate the
first duty free shop in the former Soviet Union at Moscow's Sheremetyevo 2
International Airport. The shop was
opened on 1 May 1988.
As a
result Aer Rianta International (ARI) was formed as a subsidiary of Aer Rianta
based at Shannon Airport.
1990's
From its formation ARI has continued to
expand as one of the world’s largest, airport retailing companies. ARI designed, managed and operated duty free
and duty paid airport retail outlets in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
In the late 1990’s the design and
construction of a new extension to the Terminal Building at Shannon Airport
commenced. The Airport’s departures area
was relocated into the new extension and a new road system was also constructed
to rationalise traffic flow for passengers arriving and departing the airport.
2000’s
In March 2000 the new Shannon Airport
Terminal was opened with capacity for 4.5 million passengers. The extension is contained over four floors
with the bulk of the 10,800 sq.m area of accommodation on the Ground and First
Floors. The building accommodates the Departures Hall with 40 no. Check-in
Desks, Car Hire and Airlines Desks, a Restaurant, Bar and additional Office
Space. New baggage screening facilities were provided with a tunnel link to a
refurbished baggage basement. The public viewing area on the top-level provides
views of the airside local landscape and Shannon Estuary.
The Terminal Building extension won the
Irish Architects Awards for the Best commercial Building in 2002
In July 2003, the Government announced its
decision on the future of Irish Airports and Aer Rianta. The Government’s decision was to establish
Shannon, Cork and Dublin airports as fully independent and autonomous
authorities under state ownership and this was legislated for in the State
Airports Act 2004.
Under the 2004 State Airports Act, which
came into effect in October 2004, the Dublin Airport Authority assumed
responsibility for all the assets, liabilities and contracts of the former Aer
Rianta.
In 2008 full ‘Open Skies’ for passenger
traffic came into effect which presented the airport with further challenges in
retaining its transatlantic business.
In August 2009 Shannon Airport became the
1st airport in Europe to have full United States Preclearance Services
following the construction of a new US Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
preclearance facility for Commercial operations.
2010’s
In March 2010 Shannon Airport became the
1st Airport in the World outside of the United States to have pre-clearance for
Private aircraft. In June 2010
pre-clearance services extended to non scheduled commercial airlines and
business jets.
2012
The last quarter of 2012 saw a timely
resurgence for Shannon, with new services announced for Philadelphia (US
Airways) and Chicago (United Airlines), a return of Aer Lingus to JFK and
Boston, and Delta to JFK, giving Shannon direct services to five US airports
for Summer 2013. It remains, along with Dublin Airport, as one of only two
airports in the Republic of Ireland with flights to and from the US and, from a
transatlantic perspective, services the entire west coast of Ireland.
In November 2012, Aer Lingus also confirmed
a new three times weekly service to Faro, Portugal, operating from May to
September with an Airbus A320, strengthening Shannon's summer-sun destinations.
In December 2012, it was announced that
Shannon Airport would separate from the Dublin Airport Authority, who still own
Dublin and Cork airports. On 31 December 2012 at 11:59 pm, Shannon Airport
became a publicly owned independent commercial airport operated by the Shannon
Airport Authority plc.
2013: Independence from the DAA
The first passengers through the newly
autonomous airport arrived on the Aer Lingus EI-110 flight from JFK at 5:08 am
on 1 January 2013 (New Year's Day).
Shannon Airport also welcomed the early launch of the Aer Lingus summer
schedule to the US as a vote of confidence in transatlantic services at
Shannon.
On March 21, Ryanair announced a new twice
weekly route to Alicante, Spain to commence June 5 for the summer months.
Return to Growth
Rose Hynes was appointed to the Board as
Chairman Designate in November 2012 and was appointed Chairman in January 2013.
In March 2013, the new company appointed Neil Pakey as its first CEO.
Traffic figures for June 2013 report an 8%
increase on the previous year and the first time a traffic increase has been
recorded in 3 years. Shannon Airport stemmed a five year decline in passenger
numbers in its first year as an independent entity passenger figures confirm.
Some 1,400,032 passengers flew through
Shannon over the course of the year, up from 1,394,781 in 2012. The marginal increase was achieved despite a
difficult start to 2013 as month-over-month passenger numbers again decreased
in the months through to June when the airport recorded its first month-over-month
increase in five years. In March 2014 Less than 15 months after the airport was
made independent nine new routes commenced with Shannon enjoying its biggest
week in almost a decade in terms of new route start-ups. The 2014 summer
season, which officially begins in April, will see 16 service enhancements at
Shannon.
Start of
Operation
1945:
Shannon Airport officially opened.
2000: New terminal building opened.
2000: New terminal building opened.
Operating
Hours
24 hours
per day, 365 days per year.
Location
On the west
coast of Ireland 24 kilometres north of Limerick city, 22 kilometres south of
Ennis town and 90 kilometres south of Galway.
Airport
Operating Company
Shannon
Airport Authority plc.
Runway
06/24 -
length 3199 metres - width 45 metres plus 8 metre shoulders each side.
Surface asphalt.
Category 2 (Runway 24).
Surface asphalt.
Category 2 (Runway 24).
Aircraft
stands: 30
