Shannon Airport

Shannon Airport, in the southwest of Ireland, has an interesting history. The airport was developed in a time when airplanes could not fly long distances without filling up, flights from North America landed in Shannon to get kerosene. When airplanes could cover longer distances, Ireland continued to protect Shannon Airport. For a long time there was an agreement that only American airlines could fly into Dublin, like they also did with Shannon. Since 1993 the Americans could fly directly into Dublin, but they must have the same number of flights into Shannon. This regulation was made more relaxed in November 2006 and completely expired in 2008.

After 2008, Shannon Airport became a combination airport for budget airline Ryanair and a military airport. The airport is already being used for filling up American combat planes. Passenger counts dropped after 2008 but are on the rise again, with almost 2 million passengers processed at the airport in 2015.