Shannon Airport
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Shannon Airport Aerfort na Sionna |
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Commercial | ||||||||||
| Owner | Government of Ireland | ||||||||||
| Operator | Shannon Group Plc | ||||||||||
| Serves | Mid-West Region, Ireland | ||||||||||
| Location | Shannon, County Clare | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 46 ft / 14 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 52°42′07″N 008°55′29″W / 52.70194°N 8.92472°WCoordinates: 52°42′07″N 008°55′29″W / 52.70194°N 8.92472°W | ||||||||||
| Website | www.shannonairport.com | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
 SNN
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| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2016) | |||||||||||
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| Passengers | 1,749,367 |
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| Passenger change '15-'16 |
 2.0% |
| Aircraft Movements | 19,149 |
| Movements change '15-'16 |
2.3% |
Shannon Airport (Irish: Aerfort na Sionna) (IATA: SNN, ICAO: EINN) is one of Ireland's three primary airports, along with Dublin and Cork. In 2016, around 1.75 million passengers passed through the airport, making it the third busiest airport in the country after Dublin and Cork. Shannon Airport is in Shannon, County Clare, and mainly serves Limerick, Ennis, Galway and the south-west of Ireland.
In the late 1930s, transatlantic air traffic was dominated by flying boats, and a flying boat terminal was located at Foynes on the south side of the Shannon Estuary. However, it was realised that changing technology would require a permanent runway and airport.
In 1936, the Government of Ireland confirmed that it would develop a 3.1 km2 (1.2 sq mi) site at Rineanna for the country's first transatlantic airport. The land on which the airport was to be built was boggy, and on 8 October 1936 work began to drain the land. By 1942 a serviceable airport had been established and was named Shannon Airport. By 1945 the existing runways at Shannon were extended to allow transatlantic flights to land.
When World War II ended, the airport was ready to be used by the many new post-war commercial airlines of Europe and North America. On 16 September 1945 the first transatlantic proving flight, a Pan Am DC-4, landed at Shannon from New York City. On 24 October, the first scheduled commercial flight, an American Overseas Airlines DC-4, passed through Shannon Airport. An accident involving President Airlines on 10 September 1961 resulted in the loss of 83 lives. The Douglas DC-6 aircraft crashed into the Shannon River while leaving Shannon Airport for Chicago.
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Wikipedia