This article is from page 25 of the 2008-03-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 25 JPG
AFTER 40 years and the odd meet- ing with a US president, Newmarket- on-Fergus man Joe McCormack has retired from Aer Lingus.
In a long career with the national carrier, Joe observed the many A aT betexeh Met IM ST MVom Cot OE-Com aCe Lingus, from the boom times of the nineties to the ending of the Shan- non-Heathrow link.
Joe left Aer Lingus around the same time as his friends and col- leagues Tony Lillis, Flann Fahy and Michael Culligan, and says he’ll miss the place.
“It’s a bit strange alright, particu- larly in the mornings,” he says.
“I would have been used to get- ting up early for the morning shift. But you have to move on, and any- way sure I’ll find plenty to keep me LeU A
Joe started and ended his career with Aer Lingus working in the load- ing section of Shannon Airport. He left the job as a supervisor, though with dwindling staff numbers, Shan- non has become a different place.
There was a time, Joe remembers, when the airport was busy, bustling re tleren
He explains: “For a while there, in
the nineties when you might have 150 people working during the day, you start at 6am and not finish till 12 that night. There might be 12 or 14 teams working in loading. It was very busy.
“You would be handling up to 50 flights, when it got really busy. The night shift was hectic. We worked very hard, but it’s definitely a lot qui- eter now.”
Its no surprise that along the way Joe met one or two famous faces on their way through travel.
“You got to meet a lot of different people. I remember meeting Telly Savallas and Bill Clinton. Bill Clin-
ton came over and talked with a few of us and shook our hands. I remem- ber Abba coming too, they came over to us. But the thing was, you wouldn’t go over to someone unless they came over to you.”
Joe may have retired but the Mc- Cormack family tradition continues at Aer Lingus. Joe’s daughter Emma works in the personnel section of Aer Lingus in Shannon and has been with the company for nine years.