Over 730 US Military Flights Recorded at Shannon in 2016
Analysis of Shannonwatch data shows that over 730 US military flights landed at Shannon in 2016. That's more than 2 a day over the entire year. Of these, 413 were operated by the US Air Force, Navy or military, and the remainder were contracted troop carriers like Omni Air International.
Since August 2008 at total of at least 7,988 US military planes carrying armed troops or cargo have landed at the airport. This does not include suspect rendition planes and planes not identifying themselves as attached to the CIA or US military which have undountedly also landed there.
As the first peace vigil of the year took place today at Shannon, a US Navy C40 sat inside the airport, away from the terminal building. There was an Irish Defence Forces patrol stationed about 50 meters from it. The large force of Gardai that stood blocking the entrance to the airport during the peace vigil were asked to inspect it (since it could well be carrying weapons illegally, or even war criminals), but a sergeant in charge said that would not be happening.
The full breakdown of US Air Force, Navy and military operated aircraft recorded at Shannon in 2016 is as follows:
| C130 | C17/C5 | K* Refueling | C9 | Executive Jets | Other (B737, B752 etc) | Monthly total | |
| January | 8 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 27 |
| February | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 22 |
| March | 13 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 21 | 45 |
| April | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 22 | 43 |
| May | 13 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 38 |
| June | 7 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 17 | 43 |
| July | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 18 | 40 |
| August | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 25 |
| September | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 21 | 47 |
| October | 9 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 36 |
| November | 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 18 |
| December | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 19 | 29 |
| TOTALS | 100 | 15 | 17 | 16 | 71 | 194 | 413 |
The monthly breakdown of troop carriers is as follows:
| MONTH | COUNT |
| January | 22 |
| February | 30 |
| March | 28 |
| April | 39 |
| May | 31 |
| June | 22 |
| July | 32 |
| August | 18 |
| September | 17 |
| October | 45 |
| November | 15 |
| December | 20 |
If the first peace vigil of the year is anything to go by, the number of people who are prepared to express their opposition to this ongoing US military use of Shannon is growing. We had peace activists from Clifden, Galway city, Dublin and Waterford, as well as more local activists from Ennis, Limerick and Shannon. The Shannon Airport authority may have planned for 2017 to be another year of complicity in warmongering, death and suffering. But they may not have it all their way.