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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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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.

The introduction of a €10 departure tax by the Government in their recent budget is very bad news for Shannon Airport that is at least according to Michael O’Leary from low cost airline Ryanair.

O’Leary predicts that Ryanair passenger numbers at Shannon will be cut from 2 million to just 750,000. He went on to say that Ryanair will just have one aircraft based at Shannon Airport next year compared to the current four.

Less worried it seems are the authorities at Shannon Airport who spoke of an existing 5 year agreement with Ryanair. They say that Ryanair have agreed to raise its passenger numbers to 2 million at Shannon Airport by 2010 and that deal must be honored.

Shannon Airport has had to deal with bad news recently with the closure of the Heathrow route as well as major Aer Lingus staff cuts. They will be determined not to let Ryanair go easily.

O’ Leary blasted the Government for introducing the airline tax and spoke of possibly having to move his tax base in years to come if things get any worse.

A year since Aer Lingus axed it routes to Heathrow and Shannon Airport is still feeling the pinch. The loss of the route last January has meant 330,000 less passengers. However, if Ryanair had not picked up, it could have been much worse.

It has affected the tourism industry and the ordinary passengers. Heathrow is still a major concern for Shannon. City Jet, which operates daily flights from Shannon to Paris, has helped to cover the loss made by Aer Lingus.

A representative from Shannon Airport said that Ryanair is a significant contributor to their business.

The success of City Jet, begun midwinter but has yet to be proven. They are looking at the possibility of a connection to London Airport in the near future.

Cork Airport may actually be about to challenge Shannon as the countries 2nd busiest airport as Shannon passenger numbers have dropped by 9% since the beginning of 2008. This makes it a possibility that both airports will be neck and neck next to Dublin Airport in passenger numbers by the end of the year.

There is still uncertainty surrounding Ryanairs future at Shannon Airport after billions of Euros were lost from the airline’s shares.

The budget carrier is still losing money and this could spell disaster for Shannon. A losing Ryanair is bad news for Shannon Airport.  Reports claimed that the airline could lose 60 million Euro by next year.

Ryanair’s management told a committee meeting that Shannon is one of its bases where they are losing a lot of money. They admitted that the company was making a loss at Shannon every year for the last three years. They said that the airline industry is in the midst of an economic storm due to the universal high prices of oil. 

Ryanair is very important for the continual growth of Shannon. The loss of the Aer Lingus Shannon Heathrow route was devastating and is still felt today.  However, these are just “worrying times” and Shannon Airport hopes that Ryanair can work through its current difficulties until a time when the global oil crisis is resolved,

Following the recent decision by Aer Lingus to pull its Shannon to Heathrow route, British Airways has emerged as a possible option to service the route

The Irish Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey spoke today of the continuing efforts of the Board at Shannon Airport to find an airline suitable to fill the role vacated by Aer Lingus who cut the route in an attempt to better service Belfast

Shannon Airport Chairman Pat Shanahan has said there has been no official contact with British Airways since a brief telephone call ten days ago and they have yet to receive any firm offers regarding the route. Airport officials also stated that these were “very early days” and “it would be some time before an agreement is reached”

Shannon Airport authority refused to comment on which airlines they were currently in discussion with but given the number of major airlines in the Irish industry it hardly takes rocket science to work out who they might be