Campaigners celebrate US troop carrier’s pullout from Shannon

THE decision by the world’s largest carrier of US troops to pull out of Shannon has been hailed as a victory for the Irish peace movement.

World Airways has declared its intention to stop using Shannon Airport from July 1, losing the airport millions of euro in annual revenue.

It has also emerged that North American Airlines, a sister company of World Airways, is looking at alternatives to Shannon.

A spokesperson for the Peace and Neutrality Alliance said yesterday the World Airways decision was a “great victory for PANA (Peace and Neutrality Alliance) and the Irish Peace movement”.

Commenting on the decision, PANA chairman Roger Cole said: “PANA was the first organisation to hold a demonstration at Shannon Airport in May 2002 and has campaigned actively on the issue since then.”

The organisation said it estimated that half the US troops using Shannon on their way to Iraq use World Airways.

Mr Cole added: “PANA calls for the complete termination of the use of Shannon Airport in this ‘long war’ as it is described by the Pentagon, and intends to make it an issue in the upcoming election.”

Shannon is set to lose more than €12 million in annual revenue arising from the decision on Wednesday by World Airways to transfer US military flights to Leipzig in Germany.

World Airways is one of three US airlines contracted by the US government to ferry troops to and from the Middle East and has more than 50% of that business.

World Airways and the two other carriers, American Transair and North American Airlines, have flown more than 177,000 US troops through Shannon up to the end of May.

The three airlines spend about €25m a year at Shannon in landing charges, fuel and for in-flight catering.

US troops business represents about 20% of the total turnover at Shannon, with World Airways spending about €12m at the airport.

A spokesman for North American Airlines, which ,is also looking at alternatives to Shannon, said yesterday that “possibilities are being considered as a normal course of business”.

“North American is a subsidiary of World Air Holdings, as World Airways is, but we operate them separately,” he said.

“No decision has been made regarding changes for North American.

“North American Airlines have the same economic concerns as World Airways but there is no review in place at the moment.”

A spokeswoman for the Shannon Airport Authority said World Airways had yet to confirm their intention to pull out.

“We understand that they will move their European stopover to Leipzig on July 1 for operational reasons. It will be a significant loss of revenue for Shannon. The airline have no problem with Shannon, but at this point in time, they feel they can operate with fewer crews by locating to a central European airport for stop overs. It is a location issue which we can’t do anything about,” she said.

She said security had nothing to do with the airline’s decision.

However, the spokes- woman said that World Airways transferred their troops stopovers from Shannon to Frankfurt in September 2003 but returned to Shannon in January 2005.

The decision comes at a time of unprecedented boom at the airport. Passenger figures are 25% up on last year which was a record year with 3.3 million passengers.