SHANNON
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My computer does not want to open the Limerick Leader link. What is the story? Is snn being fixed up for a full US Immigration Customs & Border Post? Any Irish taxpayers' cash going in to this project and will the US Immigration facility at Dublin Airport be similarly designated?
I am sure the snn lobby will be thrilled at this outcome which will also have the added benefit of making it yet more difficult again for Cork Airport to ever have her own US flights into the future.
Guess they'll be looking for Emirates and the like to call in!
I am sure the snn lobby will be thrilled at this outcome which will also have the added benefit of making it yet more difficult again for Cork Airport to ever have her own US flights into the future.
Guess they'll be looking for Emirates and the like to call in!
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TTT, and for anyone else interested, from rte.ie:
The Irish and US governments have announced details of a pre-clearance agreement for transatlantic services from Shannon Airport, which will make it the first airport in Europe to have the facility.
The announcement was made by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey in Shannon this afternoon. The agreement will be formally signed by him in Washington on Monday and will allow for passengers to undertake all the necessary inspections before departing Shannon for the US.
In addition to immigration facilities, the airport will now get customs and agricultural inspections as well
The chairperson of the Airport Authority, Pat Shanahan, said the historical agreement will give Shannon a significant advantage and has the potential to increase the number of daily transatlantic flights in and out of Shannon.
He said it will strengthen revenue through increased landing and handling charges.
TTT, it is anticpated to be operational at SNN in 2009, with DUB to follow suit in 2010
The Irish and US governments have announced details of a pre-clearance agreement for transatlantic services from Shannon Airport, which will make it the first airport in Europe to have the facility.
The announcement was made by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey in Shannon this afternoon. The agreement will be formally signed by him in Washington on Monday and will allow for passengers to undertake all the necessary inspections before departing Shannon for the US.
In addition to immigration facilities, the airport will now get customs and agricultural inspections as well
The chairperson of the Airport Authority, Pat Shanahan, said the historical agreement will give Shannon a significant advantage and has the potential to increase the number of daily transatlantic flights in and out of Shannon.
He said it will strengthen revenue through increased landing and handling charges.
TTT, it is anticpated to be operational at SNN in 2009, with DUB to follow suit in 2010
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Excellent Shannon Intl ( EINN ) News
14/11/2008 - 13:33:44
Shannon Airport has received a major boost today with the news that it will become the first European airport to have pre-clearance for the US.
The US and Irish governments have joined forces to allow passengers from the airport to pass through immigration, customs and agriculture inspections before taking off.
The pre-clearance agreement – to be formally signed by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey and US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff in Washington on Monday – is the first of its kind outside Canada and the Caribbean.
Opening in Shannon next summer and in Dublin the following year, it paves the way for Ireland to become an international aviation gateway for European travellers heading to the US.
Mr Dempsey said the agreement will have major benefits for the country. “The US authorities have told us that they currently have no plans to extend pre-clearance elsewhere in Europe,” said the minister.
“This should give Ireland a comparative advantage in the highly competitive transatlantic aviation sector.”
Up to now, only immigration clearance was provided, with customs and agriculture inspections taking place on arrival in the US. The new agreement will give passengers on commercial and private aircraft full clearance into any US airport.
Shannon Airport Authority chairman Pat Shanahan said the agreement will raise the profile of the airport and the west of Ireland throughout the world.
“Becoming the first airport in Europe to have these facilities in place will be a very timely boost for Shannon Airport considering the current global economic downturn as well as the full onset of ’open skies’,” said Mr Shanahan.
“This proud first is in keeping with the tradition of an airport that, among other aviation milestones, was the first transatlantic gateway between Europe and the US in the 1940s and the birthplace of duty-free worldwide.”
Shannon Airport has received a major boost today with the news that it will become the first European airport to have pre-clearance for the US.
The US and Irish governments have joined forces to allow passengers from the airport to pass through immigration, customs and agriculture inspections before taking off.
The pre-clearance agreement – to be formally signed by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey and US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff in Washington on Monday – is the first of its kind outside Canada and the Caribbean.
Opening in Shannon next summer and in Dublin the following year, it paves the way for Ireland to become an international aviation gateway for European travellers heading to the US.
Mr Dempsey said the agreement will have major benefits for the country. “The US authorities have told us that they currently have no plans to extend pre-clearance elsewhere in Europe,” said the minister.
“This should give Ireland a comparative advantage in the highly competitive transatlantic aviation sector.”
Up to now, only immigration clearance was provided, with customs and agriculture inspections taking place on arrival in the US. The new agreement will give passengers on commercial and private aircraft full clearance into any US airport.
Shannon Airport Authority chairman Pat Shanahan said the agreement will raise the profile of the airport and the west of Ireland throughout the world.
“Becoming the first airport in Europe to have these facilities in place will be a very timely boost for Shannon Airport considering the current global economic downturn as well as the full onset of ’open skies’,” said Mr Shanahan.
“This proud first is in keeping with the tradition of an airport that, among other aviation milestones, was the first transatlantic gateway between Europe and the US in the 1940s and the birthplace of duty-free worldwide.”
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Suppose its to do with the strong links between Ireland and the US making it viable.
Up until 1995 all transatlantic flights from Dublin had to transit through SNN thus there was indeed a market for it there. But when the rules were relaxed a little Dublin too got its own facility. However even then there was a rule stipulating that for every direct departure from Dublin to the US there had to be a recipricol departure from SNN to the states so this kept SNN busy for a while until recent years when the SNN stopover joke was finally torn up! Now, indeed, there seems to be no mass market for SNN longhaul services!
Up until 1995 all transatlantic flights from Dublin had to transit through SNN thus there was indeed a market for it there. But when the rules were relaxed a little Dublin too got its own facility. However even then there was a rule stipulating that for every direct departure from Dublin to the US there had to be a recipricol departure from SNN to the states so this kept SNN busy for a while until recent years when the SNN stopover joke was finally torn up! Now, indeed, there seems to be no mass market for SNN longhaul services!
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A positive story, no?
I fail to understand the begrudging tone of many of the preceding posts. This is a logical development of the groundbreaking initiative at the time (1988) by Shannon Airport's management team to secure for Ireland a highly desirable aviation facility. The original intention was to attract transit business en-route to the U.S. but the advantages of pre-inspection have also been enjoyed by millions of US-destined passengers originating in Ireland.
Moreover, Irish posters should know by now that no government money has been provided to Aer Rianta/DAA in recent decades so there's no taxpayers money being spent- this is an investment by the airports company.
Let's wish this unique Irish airport innovation well- it's just what's needed in these difficult times for the airport business.
Moreover, Irish posters should know by now that no government money has been provided to Aer Rianta/DAA in recent decades so there's no taxpayers money being spent- this is an investment by the airports company.
Let's wish this unique Irish airport innovation well- it's just what's needed in these difficult times for the airport business.
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It's a welcome development but the benefits to Shannon and Dublin have been greatly exagerated. It's very unlikely that scheduled services to the US will stopover just to avail of the facility and charters are almost extinct on the Atlantic.
Corporate Jets could flock to both airports though.
Corporate Jets could flock to both airports though.
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Its hard to see any increase in present traffic through Shannon at the moment even with this new facility to the USA.The many years of false traffic figures to the states with the Shannon stopover has a lot to answer for!!!!!!
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It's obvious from some of the replies regarding the US pre-clearance facilities that people (maybe even people in government) don't understand where the benefit will be.
With the exception of BA's oddball service out of LCY it is unlikely that any other scheduled service will appear at SNN as a result but the already healthy biz jet traffic, currently based on a need to refuel, should see a real increase especially as many biz jets have to put down at an airport with a customs facility in the US before flying on to their final destination.
This means flights that have to refuel somewhere in the UK/Ireland won't now have to make two stops if they use SNN and this will be a saving in time and cash as stopping at a customs airport in the US can take the flights out of their way, cause problems finding slots into and out of customs equipped airports and lead to higher landing and handling charges.
No doubt SNN will price its landing and handling charges to take advantage.
Charter flights from mid Europe and perhaps even the UK which have traditionally landed at Bangor ME for fuel and customs may now use SNN and benefit from better routings in or just outside US airspace, especially when travelling to Florida and the small charter market from Israel and the Middle East which has called at SNN for fuel may increase as immigration procedures will be far quicker at SNN.
If the airport get the passenger handling right, the duty free facilities should benefit.
As for locally generated traffic, I don't know how many who have commented on the loads ex SNN across the pond have ever taken a flight from SNN to the US but the loads I've observed over the last 10 years have been healthy enough in summer.
With the exception of BA's oddball service out of LCY it is unlikely that any other scheduled service will appear at SNN as a result but the already healthy biz jet traffic, currently based on a need to refuel, should see a real increase especially as many biz jets have to put down at an airport with a customs facility in the US before flying on to their final destination.
This means flights that have to refuel somewhere in the UK/Ireland won't now have to make two stops if they use SNN and this will be a saving in time and cash as stopping at a customs airport in the US can take the flights out of their way, cause problems finding slots into and out of customs equipped airports and lead to higher landing and handling charges.
No doubt SNN will price its landing and handling charges to take advantage.
Charter flights from mid Europe and perhaps even the UK which have traditionally landed at Bangor ME for fuel and customs may now use SNN and benefit from better routings in or just outside US airspace, especially when travelling to Florida and the small charter market from Israel and the Middle East which has called at SNN for fuel may increase as immigration procedures will be far quicker at SNN.
If the airport get the passenger handling right, the duty free facilities should benefit.
As for locally generated traffic, I don't know how many who have commented on the loads ex SNN across the pond have ever taken a flight from SNN to the US but the loads I've observed over the last 10 years have been healthy enough in summer.
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i was talking to someone "in the know" in Limerick last night that reckoned apart from biz jets (whose traffic is on the up and afaik can already use the border facilities), that shannon would really gain in the cargo sector. Reckoned it is being touted as a perfect location for a cargo hub and has a large land bank that could be developed for that purpose. The deal can only be looked at as a good thing imo, any benefit is a wait and see scenario though
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On that tack SNN has been sitting on a potential untapped revenue generator for far too long. The opportunity for a multi-modal freight centre using the river, the airport and the land close by has never been exploited as it should have been from the time the Customs free area was built in the 1950s and 1960s.
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Shannon has been criminally underdeveloped for years. I blame Clare County Council for this who have never made any serious effort to do a proper development plan or put up money for a direct link to the railway line. It was basically left to central government to throw subsidies at the industrial facilities with no question of intensifying the town to build a proper catchment.
I wonder at it sometimes - it's as if local pols feared Ennis would stay a backwater and thus Shannon had to be held back. This would be ironic, if true, since DUB was held back for years so Shannon could maintain its own privileges.
I wonder at it sometimes - it's as if local pols feared Ennis would stay a backwater and thus Shannon had to be held back. This would be ironic, if true, since DUB was held back for years so Shannon could maintain its own privileges.
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Very true. Foynes is just across the Estuary and long term the plan is to develop that further as a deep water port...replacing Limerick city docks which are to be regenerated...so far this has been held up because of resistance to the closure of Limerick docks..unions, workers, politicians etc..usual story but i;ve heard there will be decisions on Limerick docks very soon. There is serious potential but what will happen, who knows especially in the current economic climate. The Shannon tunnel will really help traffic movement in the region as well. Anyone in Limerick for the rugby yesterday could see how badly that is needed.
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@ mark D
As far as I know Shannon town services etc have only been the responsibility of Clare Co Co since 2004, before that these were actually the responsibility of Shannon Dev who for many reasons were held back in doing anything major with the place (and made a hames of some things they could do).
In true irish fashion, the town itself has been a bit of a political football locally...but in fairness to Clare Co Co there is some beneficial stuff starting to happen and also at the planning stage as part of a regeneration of the place.
For a town of its size it has about one third of the retail space that similar sized towns have...in that respect and many others it does suffer from being so close to the larger centres of Limerick and Ennis. Limerick has retail space coming out its ears and more in the pipeline and larger retailers will always go to the bigger centres. Ennis also has plenty retail bleed to both Limerick and Galway as both are within easy reach. Clare Co Co have also some very strange/restrictive/awkward planning permission guidelines. Some are positive, some hamper things way too much.
shannon is also in many ways strangled for space to develop(especially for housing), there is land available but i know for certain that the land owners in question have been offered obscene sums of cash but have no interest in selling..now or in the future. Clare Co Co have opened some development land up with new access roads and the like but that is still relatively limited. It has a river on one edge, large industrial parks and flight paths on another and farmers who have no interest in disposing of very valuable land banks...so where do you go? (Ennis definitely benefitted here wrt to housing)
There are numerous factors that have effected the development of the place but to land it all all Clare Co Co's door would be incorrect imo
As far as I know Shannon town services etc have only been the responsibility of Clare Co Co since 2004, before that these were actually the responsibility of Shannon Dev who for many reasons were held back in doing anything major with the place (and made a hames of some things they could do).
In true irish fashion, the town itself has been a bit of a political football locally...but in fairness to Clare Co Co there is some beneficial stuff starting to happen and also at the planning stage as part of a regeneration of the place.
For a town of its size it has about one third of the retail space that similar sized towns have...in that respect and many others it does suffer from being so close to the larger centres of Limerick and Ennis. Limerick has retail space coming out its ears and more in the pipeline and larger retailers will always go to the bigger centres. Ennis also has plenty retail bleed to both Limerick and Galway as both are within easy reach. Clare Co Co have also some very strange/restrictive/awkward planning permission guidelines. Some are positive, some hamper things way too much.
shannon is also in many ways strangled for space to develop(especially for housing), there is land available but i know for certain that the land owners in question have been offered obscene sums of cash but have no interest in selling..now or in the future. Clare Co Co have opened some development land up with new access roads and the like but that is still relatively limited. It has a river on one edge, large industrial parks and flight paths on another and farmers who have no interest in disposing of very valuable land banks...so where do you go? (Ennis definitely benefitted here wrt to housing)
There are numerous factors that have effected the development of the place but to land it all all Clare Co Co's door would be incorrect imo
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Cargo Hub
Will airlines go to the trouble of landing in Shannon just to avoid the hastle of custom checks in the US? Time will tell but Shannon has been touted as a cargo and passenger hub for almost thirty years. It doesn't have the critical mass needed.
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interesting..
from DE Zaminer
from DE Zaminer
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With regard to cargo, it's nothing to do with critical mass, it's all to do with political will.
Dubai, with 1.4 million people, with only the UAE behind it, very little market on its doorstep and in a politically unstable part of the world has built incredible multi modal facilities and is targetting not only shipping goods around the mid east and India but is importing part completed goods, adding value in duty free areas adjacent to the facilities and shipping the items world wide.
This is the model Shannon has repeatedly overlooked.
Instead we get too much concentration on Dublin, in fighting btween TDs interested only in buying votes in their own backyards with promises forgotten as soon as an election is over and nimbys, such as those in Ballylongford opposing the LPG terminal.
Shannon could easily have been to Ireland what DWC Dubai World Central - DWC Home
is and will be to Dubai. However our politicians, financiers and home based technocrats lacked and still lack both the vision and drive.
As the natural Atlantic gateway to Europe, Shannon could still be a smaller version of DWC but all you will hear is "We are a small country with limited resources" and "the economy would never stand such an investment"
In fact Ireland, according to the International Monetary Fund was, per capita, the 7th wealthiest country in the world in 2007, the UAE as a whole was 14th, including the oil wealth of its members. Another measure put Ireland 5th and the UAE 17th.
It's not as if Ireland lacks the talent to make Shannon into a major multi modal centre, The success of Dubai as a duty free airport in the last 20 years and the rise of Emirates as a major world airline came about by using Irish senior managers and Irish consultants.
Looking at the infrastructure in Ireland and that of Dubai, one wonders just what Ahern, Cowan and Co have done with the wealth the Celtic Tiger generated,
Dubai, with 1.4 million people, with only the UAE behind it, very little market on its doorstep and in a politically unstable part of the world has built incredible multi modal facilities and is targetting not only shipping goods around the mid east and India but is importing part completed goods, adding value in duty free areas adjacent to the facilities and shipping the items world wide.
This is the model Shannon has repeatedly overlooked.
Instead we get too much concentration on Dublin, in fighting btween TDs interested only in buying votes in their own backyards with promises forgotten as soon as an election is over and nimbys, such as those in Ballylongford opposing the LPG terminal.
Shannon could easily have been to Ireland what DWC Dubai World Central - DWC Home
is and will be to Dubai. However our politicians, financiers and home based technocrats lacked and still lack both the vision and drive.
As the natural Atlantic gateway to Europe, Shannon could still be a smaller version of DWC but all you will hear is "We are a small country with limited resources" and "the economy would never stand such an investment"
In fact Ireland, according to the International Monetary Fund was, per capita, the 7th wealthiest country in the world in 2007, the UAE as a whole was 14th, including the oil wealth of its members. Another measure put Ireland 5th and the UAE 17th.
It's not as if Ireland lacks the talent to make Shannon into a major multi modal centre, The success of Dubai as a duty free airport in the last 20 years and the rise of Emirates as a major world airline came about by using Irish senior managers and Irish consultants.
Looking at the infrastructure in Ireland and that of Dubai, one wonders just what Ahern, Cowan and Co have done with the wealth the Celtic Tiger generated,
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As the natural Atlantic gateway to Europe
You can't seriously compare Shannon to Dubai. I mean really. Seriously that's comedy. Both WERE backwaters but Dubai had the $$$$$$ from oil that Ireland never had. Also Dubai is better suited to be a world hub than Shannon. It's in the middle of things whereas if Shannon was any more peripheral it would be mid atlantic.
Fuel stops, loco and toursity Americans are the only things Shannon is going to see in the real world. Unless you have a nive 7 Star Hotel and sun and sandy beaches? NO!