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Drop in troop flights contributes to decline in Shannon passenger numbers

It was a difficult year for the airport, but 2013 will “mark the turning point” for recovery, a spokesperson said.

11/01/13 6,740 Views 25 Comments
Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar at Shannon Airport
Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar at Shannon Airport
Image: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland

THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS passing through Shannon airport dropped by 14 per cent between 2011 and 2012.

The airport saw a decline from 1,625,453 in 2011 to 1,394,781 this year. That marks a total decline of 230,672.

A fall-off in troop movements through Shannon airport accounted for 145,953 of the decline, 63 per cent overall. Shannon remains the State’s third largest airport.

It was announced in December that Shannon Airport and Shannon Development are to merge, leading to the creation of 850 jobs. The Government granted the airport full independence from Dublin Airport Authority to merge with a restructured Shannon Development to form a new publicly-owned commercial entity this year.

Turning point

Commenting on 2012 passenger figures at Shannon, a spokesperson for Shannon Airport said that while 2012 was “a difficult year, the decline over recent years slowed considerably and we believe that 2013 will mark the turning point for the airport as recovery firmly takes hold”.

The spokesperson noted that transatlantic was down by 10 per cent in 2012 but the airport is anticipating an increase of 22 per cent alone in passenger numbers on transatlantic services in the summer season this year thanks to new routes coming on stream for Philadelphia and Chicago; the return of Aer Lingus early on JFK New York and Boston; and Delta’s return on JFK.

Outside the US, it also has a new route announced for Faro, as well as a doubling of its services to Bodrum in Turkey for the summer season.

In time, after a really difficult four years for the airport, 2013 will be seen as the turning point. In addition to the gains we have already secured, the newly independent Shannon Airport will be marketed aggressively and competitively this year also for a range of other sustainable routes that we have identified.

The spokesperson added:

We are confident that the newly independent [airport] will be making further announcements as the year goes on regarding new services and strengthening of existing successful services.

Yesterday it was announced that passenger numbers at Dublin airport were up 2 per cent.

Read: 850 jobs promised as Shannon Airport and Shannon Development to merge>

Read: Passenger numbers at Dublin Airport up 2 per cent>

About the author:

Aoife Barry
aoife@thejournal.ie

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Comments (25 Comments)

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  • Niallers 11/01/13 #

    Shannon is a great airport .. Takes 10 minutes from when you enter the airport to pass security and get to the departure gate.

    Stress free compared to Dublin.

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  • Culm Carty 11/01/13 #

    Drop in US troop numbers was inevitable, as US troop numbers stationed in Iraq & Afghanistan were also dropping.

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  • Declan 11/01/13 #

    Shannon Airport is a great airport. For me anyhow as I live in Limerick. Still we have to fly from DUB to CDG in Feb. since there is no direct service from SNN. What is killing SNN is possibly the nonstop motorway between Limerick & Dublin. That & the competition with Cork on key routes.

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  • tom 11/01/13 #

    When the troops fly through shannon there is always people protesting.
    Can’t have it both ways.
    Wish shannon airport well but fear there just isn’t the population to support it. Cargo might be a life line

    Reply
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  • Al K Seltzer 11/01/13 #

    Shannon will blossom once again now that the Daa have their grubby hands off it.

    Reply
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  • Tom Keating 11/01/13 #

    Not surprised when all the flights where all taken and centralised to Dublin.

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    • Tony Stanley 11/01/13 #

      No Tom!

      I work for an airline and were not in the habit of flying destinations people don’t want to use. People want to fly to Dublin….FACT! SNN has a very localised catchment area and will only attract limited services. It’s too big an airport for what is needed!

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    • Tom Keating 11/01/13 #

      Tony, I’m not sure who these “people” are that want to go to Dublin. As of today I agree that airlines running flights out of Shannon it not that viable, that is a FACT. Before a certain airline stopped for a short time flights to London and the Dublin lobby got flights moved away from Shannon for “Greed” Shannon was viable for both the region and country. All that is mute now as the damage is done, another FACT.

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  • Fecky Din 11/01/13 #

    Just to correct a few mistruths on here.Shannon has the longest runway in the country at present.Thanks to the completion of the M7 motorway and the Limerick tunnel the catchment area for Shannon has extended massively.Its estimated that 2.5 million people are within 90mins travel time of the airport.With the right mix of routes and airlines (DAA’s over dependse on Ryanair accounted for the majority of collapse in pax numbers ) will see a sustainable future for Shannon.

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  • Niamh O' Brien 11/01/13 #

    Huge conflict of interest was involved with DAA and Shannon. Snn has/had longest runway in Europe and was the forerunner in duty free shopping internationally… Theres plenty of this side of the country detest having to drive for longer to other side of country than duration of flight. The majority of tourists have to fly into Dublin and waste huge time and effort getting out of the County, to see Ireland. Shannon was a booming airport until the illegal taking over of it by DAA. Companies Ombudsman is a disgrace in this country.

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    • Tony Stanley 11/01/13 #

      It was never the longest runway in Europe, it doesn’t even come close. The runway in Knock is longer!

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    • Gina O'Connor 11/01/13 #

      I think you should do a little more research on the runway lengths of Shannon and Knock.

      Reply
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    • Seamus Ryan 11/01/13 #

      Shannon runway is 3199 metres long, Knock runway is 2340 metres, Tony. These days, of course, runways in Madrid, Frankfurt and Athens are significantly longer than both.

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    • tom 11/01/13 #

      The long runway should be to its advantage in attracting bigger plane’s.
      Lower landing fees, motorway on door steep would make a good distribution centre for cargo and refitting of planes.
      Lets face it the traveling population volume isn’t going to be their in great numbers with cork not too far away.
      Unless a budget airline offers very very cheap flightd most people will continue using dublin and cork.

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    • Joe OShea 11/01/13 #

      I hope Niamh is not working in air traffic control with her misinformation on runway lengths !

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    • Gina O'Connor 11/01/13 #

      It was more Tony Stanley’s knowledge of runways I was concerned about. Seeing that he mentioned in a previous comment he works for an airline. Hope it’s not on determining aircraft performance based on the length of runways

      Reply
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  • Pierce2020 11/01/13 #

    Maybe the CIA could help?

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  • Eamonn Connaghan 11/01/13 #

    Less blood money for them.

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  • Mark Moloney 11/01/13 #

    The airport was profiteering from murder and occupation.

    It’s sad that people could lose their jobs but it is immoral to make money off the suffering of others and the war was always going to end with an embarrassing US withdrawal from the countries they invaded.

    Instead of relying on occupational wars, the Government should invest in the west of Ireland and make it an attractive place to locate a business.

    Reply
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