Shannon airport opened a £28 million terminal building last May, with the latest in facilities to provide for 4.5 million passengers.
This, a sign of Government confidence in the airport, brings to £80 million in recent capital investment. A further £43 million was invested since Aer Rianta was given full responsibility for marketing Shannon in 1996. The company has since invested £14.6 million in the airport.
For some years business and industrial leaders in Limerick and Clare have been campaigning for services to the continent which have been scant, despite the huge growth of industries in the region with continental links. A 39 per cent increase in European traffic through Shannon in the fist six months of this year illustrates this growth.
Next month Aer Lingus will begin a new service from Dublin via Shannon to Washington-Baltimore, which will be their fifth inlet to the US market. KNOCK is the base from which tour buses take tourists to locations ranging from Connemara to Co Wicklow and Dublin.
A group of young German men were waiting for their flight to Dusseldorf last Saturday . They had hired a boat on the Shannon for a week's fishing. They had only caught one pike, but had had a good time none the less.
"I love this little airport," said Erica Rempt, representative of Jong Intervakanties travel firm. "Everyone is so nice and looks after you so well. The only drawbacks are that there is no ATM machine and no public transport."
Knock is indeed a pleasant and friendly airport. Its cafe, where pleasant staff serve fresh food, compares favourably with Dublin's, where I recently witnessed staff closing a counter for the evening as two families with hungry children attempted to order a meal.
But despite the busy weekend traffic from the continent, Knock is often quiet. There are no transatlantic flights any more as tour operators in the US found it cheaper to block-book on scheduled flights into Shannon and Dublin than to use charters to Knock, according to airport manager Michael McGrath.
"The business is there," he said. "A third of the passengers through Shannon are travelling to or from this catchment area. This airport has to be part of the development of the scheduled service."