Shannon International Airport
Shannon International Airport (IATA Airport Code: SNN) in Shannon, Ireland is one of Ireland's largest airport facilities. It is located in County Clare, northwest of the city of Limerick in the Midwest of Ireland. The name is taken from the nearby River Shannon.
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2 Foreign military aircraft at Shannon 3 Airlines using Shannon 4 External Links |
It is across this river that the first transatlantic flights made their final port of call before crossing the Atlantic. Foynes, a small town on the south bank of the river, in County Limerick is renowned particularly for the Flying boats which frequented the port. It is also famous as the birthplace of Irish Coffee, that elixir invented for cold and wet transatlantic passengers. Due to the lack of ground space and rough landscape around Foynes, the new International Airport at Shannon was built on flat bogland across the river.
Shannon Airport established the world's first duty free shop in 1947. The airport became instrumental for business and tourism in the Midwest area. The adjoining "Shannon Free Zone", a (then) tax-free industrial estate was one the first major sites for Multinational companies in Ireland. Meanwhile tourists, mainly from the [U.S.] flocked to see sights such as Bunratty Castle and the Cliffs of Moher.
During the Cold War, the Soviet airline Aeroflot used Shannon as a hub for its transatlantic flights, as Shannon was the westernmost non-NATO airport in Europe.
Shannon Airport also has a history of military use. A large part of its business is military stopovers. As Ireland is a neutral country, no bias is shown in accepting traffic from various nations. There are restrictions, such as no weaponry being allowed and uniformed foreign soldiers remaining out of public areas. 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 ruled 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 noted above in September 2001. The provisions of Bunreacht na hÃÂÃÂireann (Constitution of Ireland) which affirm Ireland's commitment to the rule of international law were found to be only "aspirational". A further judicial review relating to Shannon Airport and the U.S.-led attack against Afghanistan is due to be heard later in 2004.
Shannon has at various times been used for pilot training. The scale - traffic ratio is quite large, thus it has significant advantages as a training ground for large aircraft.
SNN is one of the hubs of Irish international and domestic airline Aer Lingus, which is also one of five companies providing aircraft maintenance at the airport. Shannon is also one of the hubs of Irish low budget airline Ryanair. The airport can handle landings by airplanes of all sizes.
The United States - Ireland bilateral 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.
History
Foreign military aircraft at Shannon
Airlines using Shannon
List of passenger airlines using Shannon
List of cargo airlines using Shannon
External Links