Increase in aircraft diversion incidents

FOLLOWING a massive drop in medical emergencies at Shannon Airport in 2009, there was a considerable jump last year in the number of incidents where aircraft diverted to the mid west airport with ill passengers.

Shannon Airport is a designated emergency landing site for aircraft travelling on the north Atlantic route because of its strategic location on the edge of Europe — and because it also has the longest runway in Ireland at 3,200m (3.2km).

The latest information from the Shannon Airport Authority show emergency services dealt with 24 incidents in 2010 where aircraft diverted to or made landings at Shannon having declared medical emergencies. This followed a drop in the previous year as the downturn in the aviation industry began to take hold.