Thousands of US troops have passed through Shannon Airport during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though most of the Airport’s regular passenger flights has been grounded.
Over 26,000 US troops passed through the Airport between January and April, many of them after the outbreak of COVID-19 here.
Clare FM’s Michael Glynn reports.
Transport Minister Shane Ross has revealed that 9,290 US military personnel traveled through Shannon Airport on flights that landed there in March of this year.
That was the busiest month of the year so far, with 6,600 troops being flown through the Airport in January, along with 6,000 more in February and 4,100 in April.
The total number – just over 26,000 – puts Shannon on pace to record fewer troop transits this year than in either of the past two years, but is ahead of average traffic levels between 2013 and 2017.
Permission was granted for 115 US Military flights to land at Shannon in those four months, along with 11 other military flights from Egypt, France, Italy, Palestine, Russia and the UK.
