This article is from page 4 of the 2013-12-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
IT PROVED to be a bumper Christmas for returning emigrants, with Shannon Airport recording a 21 per cent increase in passenger numbers over the festive season.
Some 43,000 passengers will have flown in and out of Shannon over the Christmas period from December 21 to January 2 – up almost 8,000 on the same period last year when over 35,000 travelled.
This makes it the first Christmas in five years that passenger numbers at the airport have shown an increase.
“We are having a very busy Christmas,” said Niall Maloney, Airport Operations Director at Shannon Airport.
“This is the busiest period of the winter season and we also had our free Santa Flights with Ryanair so it it’s all hands on deck.
“An airport is an emotional place anyway as families and friends reu- nite or say goodbye but it is particularly so at Christmas. This weekend is probably the happiest of the year, though, and the buzz is fantastic as there are so many flying in to be home for Christmas.
“The arrivals area is where it all happens, particularly for US and London flights as they are full of people flying back from the States or, via London, from the likes of Australia, the Middle East, Far East and elsewhere,” he added.
The boost in passengers numbers in Shannon over the Christmas period comes at the end of the airport’s first full year of independence.
On January 31 last year Shannon was formally granted its independence from the Dublin Airport Authority – a move that came into affect on the back of a pledge by the Fine Gael/Labour government to put a new blueprint in place for the airport after the 2011 General Election.