The Shannon Stopover

Sarah Palin was in the news recently on Politico where her spokesperson is quoted as saying she has visited Germany, Kuwait, and Ireland . The trip to Ireland was a "Shannon Stopover".

So what is a "Shannon Stopover"? As a seasoned traveler between Ireland and the US, I am all too familiar with the "Shannon Stopover". Shannon was Ireland's first airport serving transatlantic flights, for the simple reason that it's closest to North America. Shannon used to do very well from this traffic. It also, interestingly, was in the 1980s a refuelling pitstop for Aeroflot flights from the USSR to Cuba. But, then flights started to go directly to Dublin. For a long time, airlines were forced by law to go through Shannon, in order to keep business coming to Shannon Airport. Now, that stipulation is largely gone, and I often now fly directly from Boston to Dublin. Shannon does, of course, still serve people who actually want to land in the beautiful West of Ireland, especially tourists and business travelers visiting companies such as Dell there.

However, the declining usage of Shannon Airport meant that it had to look for more business. Partly as a result, it now serves as a re-fueling spot for US military flights. In many ways, Shannon is ideal for that job. It's a quiet airport, away from a large city, with free WiFi, and features a Duty Free shop and the "Clare Cafe" (a bar which is festooned with US Army, Air Force, and Marines stickers). Last year I went through Shannon Airport on an Aer Lingus flight and saw a booth for BMW Military there. So, it has become in some ways a weird mix of civilian and military airport. It is amusing to see how the Aer Rianta Duty Free shop cashes in on the military traffic, selling "Genuine Irish Surname Crests" for names like Rodriguez and Sanchez, as well as desert hats alongside the Aran sweaters and Irish crystal. Poignantly, the bathroom grafitti at the airport often includes the names of soldiers who didn't make it onto the flights back.

Here is a photo I took at Shannon Airport of a rainbow beaming down onto one of the US military's distintive "North American" branded planes, carrying a load of soldiers off to the Gulf (or back home to the US) along with their new Aran sweaters, Irish crystal, and desert hats.