Drunken Man Causes Plane to Land at Shannon Airport

A forty seven year old German national caused a plane travelling from Frankfurt to the Dominican Republic to make an emergency landing at Shannon Airport due to drunken behavior. He appeared at Clare District Court on May 15th.

There were 263 people on board the plane. The plane had just left Irish airspace but the pilot made the decision to return to Shannon Airport due to the behavior of four passengers. Cabin crew alerted the Pilot to the issue and requested an emergency landing.

The authorities at Shannon Airport were called and were ready and waiting to deal with the offenders upon arrival. For safety reasons fuel had to be dumped to ensure a safe landing. After circling Shannon Airport for thirty minutes the plane finally landed at half four.

A German man was taken to Shannon Garda station and charged under Section 2A of the Air Navigation and Transport Act. Statements were taken from all crew members by the authorities. The man was fined just one hundred euro and was then released. The plane took off again after thirty minutes.

Shannon Airport Faces Strike Action

Plans for a country wide airport strike in Ireland on March 30th could cause huge disruption to an estimated seventy five thousand passengers. The strike would see Ireland’s three major airports; Shannon Airport, Dublin Airport and Cork Airport come to a standstill.

Ireland has been rocked by job losses in recent months with over twelve thousand people protesting in Dublin City centre last week. A spokeswoman for the Dublin Airport Authority Siobhan Moore said that it is too early to know whether the strike will go ahead yet. She hoped that the problem would be resolved even if it takes until the last minute.

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If the strike goes ahead it will most likely lead to the closure of the three airports. Shannon Airport currently deals with about eight thousand passengers a day while Cork deals with nine thousand a day. Dublin is by far the largest catering for about sixty thousand passengers a day.

Shannon Airport to Paris CDG

CityJet have announced changes to their Shannon Airport – Paris CDG route. The company will now base a ninety five seat aircraft at Shannon Airport which will depart at 6.30am daily.

The previous departure time was 9.30am. Forty five more seats will be available on the new plane. The new plane will be available for use at Shannon Airport in May. The earlier time means that the people in the west of Ireland will now have much better access to connecting flights in Paris.

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The earlier CityJet service also helps fill some of the gap which was left after Shannon Airport lost the Heathrow route. CityJet feel that filling the extra seats will be possible particularly because of the early take off. The route will be reviewed after six months.

The chief executive of CityJet Geoffrey O’Byrne said that the airline had taken into account the needs of the people in the Shannon region and promised to provide a high quality service for Shannon Airport.

He went on to say the he hoped the people in the local area would now support the initiative despite the current economic difficulties many are facing.

Historic day for Shannon Airport

An agreement has been struck between the Irish Government and US Government which will see Shannon Airport become the 1st European airport to be granted pre-clearance facilities for transatlantic flights to the USA.

The Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey announced last Friday that he will sign an agreement with the US Government this week. Dempsey believes the deal to be fantastic news for the country as it could see Ireland become a key hub for transatlantic flights.

Pat Shanahan of the Shannon Airport Authority welcomed the news describing it as a historic day for Shannon Airport. He expressed hope that Shannon Airport would thrive with the expected increases in transatlantic flights.

TD Willie O’Dea also welcomed the news describing the news as a watershed and a day when the future of Shannon Airport was secured.

The agreement means that all required inspections can now take place at Shannon Airport rather than in the US. Previous to this only immigration clearance could be given at Irish Airport with agriculture and customs clearance happening in the US.

Pat Shanahan of the Shannon Airport Authority spoke of the huge potential the deal offers with the possibility of extra flights meaning increased landing and handling charges swelling the coffers at Shannon Airport.

After a tough economic year for Shannon Airport this deal could not have come at a better time.

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Shannon Airport emergency landing

A transatlantic flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Shannon Airport last month. The flight which was travelling from Washington to Frankfurt had 190 passengers on board.

The Shannon fire brigade as well as ambulances from Ennis was called to the scene as a precaution once news broke of the emergency landing. Extra help was also available from the Ennis fire brigade who were stationed at Dromoland on the Ennis-Limerick dual carriageway should their services be called upon.

Authorities at Shannon Airport said “United Airlines flight 952 was flying from Washington to Frankfurt. We were notified of the precautionary technical diversion at 5.30am. The aircraft had 190 passengers onboard and landed safely at 6.13am. Operations at the airport were not affected during the emergency landing”

It is still unclear however as to what the nature of the emergency was with the only official explanation being offered mentioning a “technical issue”. It is thought though unconfirmed that there was smoke in the cockpit of the plane which got into the flight deck.

Safety and fire crews carried out a full evaluation of the plane. A replacement plane was arranged to take the 190 passengers to Frankfurt.