US military carrier may leave Shannon
dubli...@gmail.com
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/0509/2928337544HM2SHANNON.html
Pat Flynn 09/05/2006
The largest carrier of US military personnel through Shannon airport
has confirmed that it is "reviewing possible alternatives to Shannon"
for some of its operations, a move which could see the mid-west airport
lose millions of euro worth of business.
There has been speculation in recent days that World Airways will
relocate part or all of its refuelling and technical operation at
Shannon to the east German city of Leipzig. The company made a similar
move in February 2003 when it diverted 17 of its regular flights to
Frankfurt, all of which returned to Shannon some months later.
World Airways, which is the world's largest transporter of US military
personnel, uses Shannon as a refuelling and technical stop for aircraft
transporting troops to and from Afghanistan, the Gulf and US bases in
Europe.
While two other carriers, North American Airlines and American Trans
Air, also use Shannon, World Airways is at present Shannon's largest
"technical transit airline partner".
A spokesman for World Airways has confirmed that "we are reviewing
possible alternatives to Shannon for some of our operations but no
decision has been concluded.
"We are looking at operational factors for us, including better
aircraft and crew utilisation, because we already have several
operations in Germany."
The company added, however, that "Shannon has always been one of our
preferred locations in Europe, and will continue to be so regardless of
the outcome of our current review".
Shannon is understood to have earned an estimated €14 million during
the first three months of this year with over 116,450 troops passing
through Shannon, an average of 40,000 a month.
This was a 21 per cent increase on the same period last year when
95,984 US service men and women stopped at Shannon. The Shannon Airport
Authority is believed to have earned around €100 million from the
Pentagon in the past four years.
An authority spokeswoman said: "We have not been made aware of any
plans by any airline to withdraw services from Shannon airport and
continue to have an exceptionally good working relationship with all
our technical transit airline partners."
Prominent anti-war activist and retired Irish Army commandant Edward
Horgan said: "I am somewhat sceptical of a World Airways pull-out. They
moved briefly from Shannon in February 2003 and came back again. Can we
bring back to life all those little children who have been killed by
soldiers who we allowed pass through Shannon?"
© The Irish Times