This article is from page 36 of the 2007-04-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 36 JPG
SHANNON Airport could see an additional 100 extra military flights every month with an expansion of services by Omni Air International, one of several airlines contracted to carry US military personnel for the Pentagon.
While the new services were not ex- pected to start until next month, two Omni Air flights arrived at Shannon on Saturday afternoon prompting calls from anti-war group the Peace
and Neutrality Alliance to call for campaigners to step up their protests at Shannon.
Former Irish Army Commandant and well known anti-war campaigner Ed Horgan said the passage of US troops through Shannon is becom- ing accepted custom and practice because not enough Irish people care about the killing of ‘foreigners’ in places such as Iraq.
News of the expansion in services by Omni Air will, however, be a sig- nificant boost to the airport after the
biggest carrier of US military per- sonnel for the Pentagon pulled out last year.
World Airways shifted its military technical stops to Leipzig, Germany citing economic reasons.
With the loss of World Airways, there has been a dramatic drop in US military traffic at Shannon.
Almost 15,000 more troops passed through the airport in January 2006 than in the first three months of this year combined.
26,817 troops stopped off at Shan-
non on 268 flights in the first quarter of this year, representing a drop of almost 77 per cent on the figures for 2006.
The Dublin Airport Authority, which still governs Shannon, has al- ready warned that Shannon Airport should not rely on the military transit nee nelen
DAA Chief Executive Declan Col- lier said that Shannon’s losses are “only slightly camouflaged by the military transit traffic which is not a sustainable business.”
Shannon has earned an estimated €8m a year for the past six years from US military traffic and its loss- es would be far greater if it did not have the military business.
A spokesperson for the Shannon Airport Authority confirmed that Omni Air are putting a programme of flights through the airport from next month.
This new business is expected to see up to 100 flights a month carry- ing as many as 10,000 troops.