In March 2024 we published a list of US military and military contracted aircraft that landed at Shannon Airport or travelling through Irish airspace between 7th October 2023 and 17th March 2024. Most of them were going to or from the Middle East.

We have continued to monitor this flagrant abuse of Irish neutrality on a daily basis, and in this article we publish a list of aircraft we have recorded at Shannon between 18 March and 31 July 2024. 

As we gathered at Shannon today wiith our friends from The People of Clare Against Genocide, there was a US Navy C-130 Hercules registration 16-4993 at the airport.

The Gardai who were standing between us and the airport were asked to search it, as there are reasonable to grounds to believe it could be involved in a military operation or have weapons on board. Neither are permitted under the conditions covering the landing of foreign military planes at the airport. 

Every day, US planes supporting the genocide in Gaza pass through Shannon. 

In just one night of brutality, Israel has shattered the ceasefire that was in place in Gaza and has murdered over 400 people, including women and children. Medical facilities are overwhelmed as these airstrikes are compounding a situation that was already desperate. Humanitarian aid is being blocked by Israel, and today UN officials described conditions in Gaza as “hell on earth” following the deadly Israeli air strikes.

On Friday night, a US Navy Hercules C130T number 16-4998 arrived at Shannon coming from Joint Base McGuire in US. It spent the overnight at the airport and took off on Saturday March 8th about 14.25pm and flew on to Zagreb Croatia.

Also on Friday, a US Navy C40 number 16-5829 landed at 10.21pm coming from Portsmouth, with a stop also at Bangor Maine. It spent 2 overnights at Shannon and took off this morning (Sunday) March 9th heading towards the Middle East.

On March 1st Omni Air N342AX on contract to the US military refuelled at Shannon, coming from Indianapolis. It flew on to Sofia Bulgaria, and from there to Kuwait and Al Udeid US airbase in Qatar. It returned via Sofia on March 2nd and landed at Shannon again at 22.00 on its return journey to the US. 

On arriving at Shannon it had the call-sign CMB (Camber). This indicates it is operating under the US Transportation Command, carrying military cargo or personnel.

We've endorsed the Global Day of Action to #CloseBases on February 23rd. And this sample of what we had at Shannon Airport in the last 2 days demonstrates why.

Omni Air N819AX landed at Shannon last night 2 Feb and took off 3 Feb and flew on to Poznan Nato base in Poland. It landed back at Shannon this evening and is now on its way back to the US.

On Jan 6th there were the following US warplanes at Shannon:

1. US Air Force C17A Globemaster transport aircraft number 08-8201 landed at about 14.46 pm, coming from Rome with a stop at Ramstein US air base in Germany. It took off again about 16.50 and returned to Ramstein Air Base. 
2. US Air Force C17A Globemaster transport aircraft number 04-4128 landed at about 17.30 pm, coming from Ramstein US air base in Germany. It took off again about 19.30 and returned to Ramstein Air Base. 
3. US Marine Corps Hercules KC130J, mid air refuelling aircraft number 16-6764 landed at about 19.25 pm, coming from Glasgow and Oslo.

On Friday Oct 25th, Omni Air N378AX on contract to the US military, landed at Shannon about 05.50am. It came from Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and Kuwait with a stop at Sofia in Bulgaria for refueling. It took off again about 09.40am and then flew on to Baltimore in USA.

Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti is the primary base of operations for the US Africa Command.

On Thursday Oct 24^th Omni Air N468AX landed at Shannon from Sofia Bulgaria, and air bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. It took off  three and a half hours later heading towards the USA.

Yesterday (October 9th) there were at least 3 US warplanes at Shannon Airport.

US Navy Hercules C130J arrived 2 days ago at about 04.30am coming from Naval Air Station New Orleans, Louisiana. It stayed two overnights and took off again today 9 Oct. about 12.00 noon heading SE towards the Middle East.

US Navy C40 number 16-5831 arrived about 02.26am coming from the same Naval Air Station New Orleans, Louisiana. Both of these aircraft are designed and equipped to transport US military cargo or US troops.

Shannonwatch will hold their monthly peace vigil at Shannon Airport on Sunday October 13th at 2pm. Please join us at the usual location (small roundabout on the way into the airport) to demand that the US use of the airport is ended immediately.

The use of the airport by the US military is unacceptable given the supply of weapons to Israel from the US. We know that some of those weapons have gone through Irish airspace, and that US military and diplomatic flights to Israel pass through Shannon. And we know that those flights are never inspected.