This article is from page 3 of the 2006-07-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
THE number of US troops going through Shannon Airport since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is set to breach the one million barrier before the end of the year.
Making the prediction, peace activist, Ed Horgan told The Clare People : “I find the whole thing appalling and a gross breach of Irish neutrality. I am equally concerned at the acceptance of this by the Irish people.”
The number of troops going through Shannon since the start of 2002 is almost at 900,000 and figures released by the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) confirm that record number of troops have passed through Shannon in the first six months of this year.
The airport authority confirmed that 209,074 US soldiers used the airport facilities from January to the end of June – a rise of 36 per cent on the corresponding period last year.
The troop traffic is believed to have generated €26 million in revenues for the SAA, delivering over €4.5 million in profits for the authority, in the first six months.
However, the numbers are now set to drop dramatically with the largest carrier, World Airways having pulled out of Shannon on July 1.
A spokeswoman for the SAA said that the carrier accounted for 50 per cent of the US troop passenger traffic going through Shannon.
The relocation of World Airways to Leipzig in Germany is expected to cost the airport authority €4.5 million in profits per annum.
The spokeswoman confirmed that during the month of June, 31,333 troops passed through on 189 flights. This followed 32,000 going through on 195 flights in May and 29,291 troops on 190 flights in April. The figure for the second quarter shows that 92,624 troops passed through Shannon, down on the 116,540 troops that used Shannon in the first three months.
The airline pulled out in 2003 to relocate to Frankfurt before returning to Shannon in 2005. Three other airlines transporting US troops to Iraq continue to use Shannon: North Western Airlines, American Transair and Omni Air International.