Hundreds of tourists have flocked through Shannon Airport this morning for the first time in almost 18 months.
It comes as the EU’s Digital COVID Cert is now live, meaning anyone who’s vaccinated, recovered from Covid or who has a negative PCR test can travel freely in Europe.
The first words to greet passengers as they entered either the departures lounge or the arrivals terminal at Shannon Airport this morning – the first time non-essential travel has operated here since March 2020.
Those with the EU cert can now travel freely across European member states.
17 Ryanair routes are now in operation at Shannon, with negotiations with other carriers understood to be ongoing to bring further air traffic back to the Midwest.
The first flight to arrive in Shannon this morning was from Krakow airport.
Sabina Budziak, who lives and works in Limerick, greeted her brother for the first time in over a year in arrivals – she says it’s a relief to welcome him here.
From today, people from Britain or the US who’ve recovered or vaccinated can also come here without having to self-isolate or provide a negative test.
That’s something tourism stakeholders throughout this county and the rest of the region say will provide a particular boost to the industry here.
Kim travelled from Loop Head to pick up her sister, who flew in from Gatwick this morning – she’s looking forward to being able to bring her around West Clare in the coming days.
Further departures from Stansted, Malaga and Faro will take off from Shannon into the afternoon in the evening, with arrivals from Stansted, Wroclaw and Faro coming in as well.
Shannon last week secured €920,000 in direct Exchequer supports under the approved State aid scheme, and it’s anticipated more funding will follow in the coming months.
Aer Lingus connections to Heathrow are expected to resume before the end of 2021, with transatlantic flights due to resume operations by Spring of next year.
Operations Manager at the Airport, Niall Maloney, says while today is a huge step in the right direction, there is still much work to be done to return Shannon traffic to anything near pre-pandemic levels.
