History of Shannon Airport

Introduction

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.

Shannon Airport Authority is the company which manages the airport on behalf of the Minister for Transport.  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.  Together with Shannon’s temperate and varied weather conditions, it makes the airport an ideal location for flight training.

There are almost 2000 people employed at the airport (not counting the nearby Industrial Estate) of which the airport itself employs about 500.  The remainder are employed by a number of State Services including Air Traffic Control, State Radio, the Meteorological Service, Immigration, Customs, Agriculture, Public Health and Telecom as well as commercial services such as airlines, aircraft handling agencies, car hire, tourism interests, taxi hire and fuel companies.  In addition some 1,000 temporary staff are recruited during the peak summer season. 

Annually, Shannon handles a passenger throughput of approximately 3 million people and nearly 50,000 metric tones of freight is transported through its cargo area.

Well over half a million passengers who travel through Shannon do so as transit passengers, breaking their journey at Shannon while traveling between Europe and North America.

The airport is used by around 20,000 scheduled commercial aircraft and nearly 8,500 non-scheduled commercial aircraft.   In all, there are around 26,000 aircraft movements at Shannon every year.

History of the Transatlantic Gateway

The townland of Rineanna, 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 site and directed that work should begin immediately.  The first priority was drainage and work commenced by laying some 135 miles of pipes.  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 sot 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.

“Lucky” Lindy

Lindbergh, while in the area, stayed at the Dunraven Arms in Adare, Co Limerick and at the Old Ground in Ennis, Co Clare.  The arrival of so famous a celebrity in the West of Ireland provided many animated local discussions about what was happening in Foynes and Rineanna and the impact these flying machines would have for the area and its people.

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.

By the mid-forties, use of flying boats to carry commercial flights was dying out and by 1946 the airboat facility at Foynes was closed.  On 24 October the first scheduled commercial flight flew into Shannon, as an American Overseas Airlines (AOA) DC4 landed from 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 refueling.  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, according to its initial plans, was 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.   This established Shannon as an International Industrial and Distribution Centre and stimulated further traffic growth.

First Duty Free Airport Shop

Also, 1947 saw the opening of the first airport shop, selling souvenirs and gifts.  The Shannon Sales and Catering Organisation was licensed by the Irish Department of Transport, enabling Shannon to conduct commercial and catering activities at the airport.  The original shop was manned by one girl.

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, once again, 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.

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.  To ensure that Shannon facilities would serve these new planes well, 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.

By 1966, the main runway was extended to 3,200 metres which is its present length.

In the mid sixties Boeing announced its plans to produce a “Jumbo” jet which would be capable of carrying 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 propellor 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.

Aer Rianta

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.

New Terminal

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 allows extensions to or alteration of the buildings as the need arises.

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.  Later in the decade Aer Rianta acquired the Shannon International Hotel which is now part of the Great Southern Hotels – an Aer Rianta subsidiary since 1990.

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 center of Europe without technical stopovers.

Shannon had to reach up into the skies and bring the aircraft down.  Airport Duty Free shopping was the first attempt.  Then 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 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.

International Activities

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.  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.  From a total Aeroflot landings of 240 in 1980, the airline in 1991 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 1989.  It has proven very popular with both terminal and transit passengers.  It is the first of its kind in Europe and represents 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. 

The company achieved great success with commercial ventures in the Middle East and in former Soviet states.  Duty Free Shops modeled on Shannon have been established at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow, Pulokova Airport in St Petersburg and Kiev Airport.  Further shopping facilities were subsequently established in downtown locations in these cities.  This was to lead directly to the founding of a subsidiary company, Aer Rianta International (ARI) based at Shannon Airport. 

ARI now offers both Airport Retailing and Airport Operational Management Consultancy expertise to the airport industry.  Business interests include shareholdings and retail management contracts, concessions, supply contracts and equity investments and has operations in  - Europe: Moscow, St Petersburg, Kyiv (Kiev) Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Birmingham.

North America: New York , Montreal Winnipeg, Edmonton, Ottawa, Halifax.

Middle East: Bahrain, Kuwait, Damascus, Beirut, Qatar, Muscat.