"Like a winter's day 10 years ago" was how one official described the new Shannon Airport £30 million passenger terminal yesterday afternoon because of the absence of passengers.
An IMPACT picket of Aer Lingus cabin crew who are mainly based at Shannon was placed at the boundary, two miles from the terminal building at 10 a.m. This picket did not affect other staff members. Aer Lingus yesterday cancelled 21 Shannon flights involving 2,500 passengers. Delta Airlines from Atlanta and New York arrived early and returned before lunchtime topped up with a number of Aer Lingus passengers.
All five east-bound Irish airlines transatlantic flights arrived but the Los Angeles service which flew direct to Dublin Airport first as normal, did not continue on to Shannon because it was operated by a Dublin crew. The 40 passengers due for Shannon travelled from Dublin by coach.
Mr Tom McInerney, Aer Lingus Shannon corporate general manager said: "We facilitated in every way possible passengers who wished to be rerouted by endorsing their tickets."
These included passengers for the US and others going on to Britain or the Continent transferring to any of the six other airlines operating out of Shannon.
However, Continental airlines were forced to cancel their transatlantic flights due to technical trouble. Passengers who would have boarded at Dublin travelled to Shannon last evening by coach and will fly out today.