Shannon Airport Thread [Mod Warning in First Post]

Air France 747 (AF733) from Santo Domingo to Paris diverted to Shannon this morning.

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Lifeboat services and Shannon helicopter stand down after safe landing of French plane (Radio Kerry)

Fenit Lifeboat, Valentia lifeboat and Valentia Coastguard have stood down after a French aircraft landed safely at Shannon Airport.

The coast guard services were on standby after an Air France plane declared a may day off the south west coast.

It’s understood there was a fire in the cargo hold of the plane which had 156 passengers on board.

The Shannon based helicopter was also on standby as the plane made an an emergency landing into Shannon airport.

The plane was en route to Charles De Gaulle from Santa Domingo in the Dominican Republic and made the may day call just before 9am this morning.

The Air France plane landed safely at Shannon Airport, just after 10am.

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Jet declares emergency amid fire fear (Clare Herald)

. . . . No fire was found while the jet’s built-in fire extinguishers had activated in the hold.

It’s now believed that heat from a cargo of vegetables activated the jet’s sensitive fire system.

It’s the third time this year that a flight diverted to Shannon with a fire alarm caused by organic material.

Article and image by Pat Flynn.

British Airways 747 (BA114) from New York to London diverted to Shannon this morning.

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British Airways flight BA-114 declared a medical emergency at around 6.55am yesterday and rerouted to Shannon. There were 295 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 747-400 jet.

The flight was about 500kms west of Mayo when the crew advised air traffic controllers at the Irish Aviation Authority’s (IAA) North Atlantic Communications Service centre at Ballygirreen in Co Clare that they needed to divert and land as soon as possible.

The crew issued a Pan-Pan distress call and requested permission to divert to Shannon, the nearest airport at the time. A Pan-Pan call signifies an urgency on board an aircraft but differs from a May-Day because the passengers or aircraft are not in any immediate danger.

The pilot requested emergency medical services to be standing by for their arrival reporting the two doctors were treating the passenger.

While the doctors and some cabin crew cared for the ill passenger, other flight staff began preparing the cabin for landing while the pilot routed towards Shannon.

A HSE ambulance and local doctor were waiting for the jet when it landed safely at Shannon at 8.39am.

Medics quickly boarded the flight and took charge of the patient. The ill man was stabilised on board the aircraft before being removed to University Hospital Limerick (UHL) for treatment.

Article and image (Clare Herald)

The UK Airport Provisional Statistics for November.

The overall total UK figures are up +6.77% as against the same month from last year.

Note: The Stansted figures were not ready yet, so I estimated them on the basis of the 3,460 additional passengers for the UK market.

The Heathrow figures must be disappointing for Aer Lingus as the corresponding periods were using the same capacity-type of aircraft i.e. A319.

Have the Liverpool passengers switched to Manchester?

Carnacalla wrote: »

I finally got confirmation that German wings is to operate from Shannon next year (All credit to cgill). Wonder when is will be bookable.

Screenshot attached

Where did you source the part regarding the germanwings confirmation?

The part containing the Neil Pakey interview seems to be from the anna aero website.

President Juncker’s Investment Plan (European Commission) ~ Task Force Project list (Ireland)

The extract below are the Shannon Projects, selected from a pdf that was uploaded on the Infrastructure forum (Irish Juncker Projects).

Shannon Group plc

Project Hangar I:
Construction of a c.6,751 square metre wide body hangar to facilitate the creation of jobs and development of the aviation cluster in Shannon.
Status: Appointment of the design team is in progress with the construction contract projected to be published on OJEU in March 2015.

Project Runway:
Full renewal of the Shannon Airport runway to maintain the airport's operating status and its' position on the comprehensive Trans-European Transport Network.
Status: Investigative works currently being initiated to determine the detailed specification of the works required.

Project Corporate:
Development of corporate-aviation and cargo terminal infrastructure in Shannon, County Clare, Ireland, as well as establishment of corporate aircraft register. Project is designed to leverage Free Zone status increase total EU MRO activity for corporate aircraft with associated benefits for employment, as well as facilitating cargo transhipment through EU and associated export processing.
Status: Feasibility analysis has been performed with positive outcomes projected.

Project Hangar II:
Construction of a second c.6,751 square metre wide body hangar to facilitate the creation of jobs and development of the aviation cluster in Shannon.
Status:To be commenced once Hangar I is completed.

Project Office:
Construction of a number of fourth generation office blocks in the Shannon Free Zone. The blocks will be constructed to provide comparable office space to current non-EU offerings such as Dubai and to ensure Europe remains a leading player in global aviation.
Status: Master plan currently being developed.

Project Airport:
Refurbishment of Shannon Airport terminal building to safeguard the airport's ability to continue to operate as a part of the Trans-European Transport Network, implement the highest levels of energy efficiency and ensure a positive customer experience.
Status: Initial assessment of works required has been performed.

Project Hangar III:
Construction of a third c.6,751 square metre wide body hangar to facilitate the creation of jobs and development of the aviation cluster in Shannon.
Status:To be commenced once Hangar II is completed.

See previous post 916.

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

That was certainly an entertaining read, but then Jim Deegan is never one to let you down when you want a bit of aviation based comedy. I particularly enjoyed this piece...

Shannon should capitalise on its rich history by developing a major attraction based on the Disney model and relating to the history of international travel. A first step in this programme should involve the development of a unique in house interactive visitor attraction on the history of transatlantic aviation.

So, just build an aviation based Disneyland at Shannon and all of its probems will be solved...:rolleyes:

This is not the first Disney-styled themed attraction that has been proposed here over the years.

Unfortunately, the brevity of the action points listed in that paper don’t reveal much.

The location would probably be in Bunratty but then again the old Terminal building might be suitable too.

There is also the Flying Boat Museum at Foynes that deals with start of the transatlantic travel by plane on the other side of the estuary.

Main thing is to generate revenue at the Airport.

Russian government to issue 9-bln-rouble guarantee to Transaero airlines (TASS News Agency)

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a government resolution on a nine-billion-rouble ($164.8 million) guaranteed support to Transaero, Russia’s second largest air carrier in terms of traffic, which has begun to experience problems against the backdrop of the current problems in the economy.

The Russian government’s website on Thursday posted the rules of granting this support in 2014. The state guarantee will cover up to 100% of Transaero’s liabilities on a three-year loan from Bank VTB to a sum of nine billion roubles. The guarantee will cover the company’s liabilities to be mature after January1m 2017.

The guarantee-secured VTB loan is to go solely to finance the company’s operating activities. Control over the use of this loan was vested with the Russian ministry of transport.

According to the government, this guarantee will entail no extra burden on the federal budget till 2017, since Transaero’s guarantee-secured liabilities become mature after January 1, 2017.

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Rebuffing Willie Walsh over Aer Lingus would be wise (Irish Times)

International Airlines Group chief executive Willie Walsh: covets Aer Lingus’s 23 Heathrow slot pairs and more transatlantic traffic.

Heathrow is a hugely important gateway to the world for Ireland. Last year, services to Heathrow from Dublin, Cork and Shannon generated traffic of 2.31 million passengers.

In many ways, the Heathrow slots are like gold bars for Ireland and the IDA as it seeks to sell the country to foreign investors. Particularly for Shannon, where access is so crucial to the economy of the mid-west.

When Aer Lingus floated in 2006, a special provision was stitched into its articles of association that meant the State could use its 25 per cent shareholding to block the disposal of Heathrow slots by the airline.

This didn’t stop Aer Lingus reassigning the Shannon to Heathrow slots to Belfast when Dermot Mannion was in charge. Who’s to say that IAG wouldn’t do the same thing?

And once the slots are gone, they’re gone forever.

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I would imagine that Transaero's financial dilemma and British Airways' bid for Aer Lingus could present the management at Shannon with some challenges in 2015.