Permission for foreign military aircraft to land in or overfly the State is subject to strict conditions. These routinely include stipulations that the aircraft must be unarmed, carry no arms, ammunition or explosives and must not engage in intelligence gathering, and that the flights in question must not form part of military exercises or operations. Overflights by US military aircraft are permitted without prior notification, where the aircraft are unarmed, carry only cargo and passengers and comply with navigational requirements.
The following tables detail the permissions granted to land at Shannon airport or overfly Irish sovereign airspace from 1 January to 31 October of this year. The number of those flights which were cancelled is also shown. In addition, permission for overflight was refused in one case where the aircraft in question did not meet our strict criteria.
Foreign military aircraft landings at Shannon Airport 1 January to 31 October 2020
|
Country Requesting Clearance
|
Number of Permissions
|
Bahrain
|
1
|
Belgium
|
10 (1 flight subsequently cancelled)
|
Canada
|
1
|
Egypt
|
1 (this flight subsequently cancelled)
|
France
|
12
|
Italy
|
1
|
Netherlands
|
6
|
Palestine
|
2
|
Russia
|
3 (1 flight subsequently cancelled)
|
UK
|
1 (this flight subsequently cancelled)
|
USA
|
236 (11 flights subsequently cancelled)
|
Total
|
274
|
Foreign military aircraft overflights 1 January 2020 to 31 October 2020
|
Country Requesting Clearance
|
Number of Permissions
|
Australia
|
1
|
Belgium
|
8
|
Canada
|
9
|
Colombia
|
1
|
Congo
|
1
|
Czech Republic
|
1
|
Egypt
|
17 (2 flights subsequently cancelled)
|
France
|
22 (1 flights subsequently cancelled)
|
Germany
|
26 (3 flights subsequently cancelled)
|
Greece
|
4 (2 flights subsequently cancelled)
|
Hungary
|
22
|
Italy
|
19 (1 flight subsequently cancelled)
|
Jordan
|
5
|
Kuwait
|
2
|
Netherlands
|
2
|
Nigeria
|
1
|
Qatar
|
21 (2 flights subsequently cancelled)
|
Russia
|
1
|
Serbia
|
1
|
Slovak Republic
|
2
|
Switzerland
|
4 (2 flights subsequently cancelled)
|
Tunisia
|
5 (1 flight subsequently cancelled)
|
UK
|
3 (2 flights subsequently cancelled)
|
USA
|
399
|
TOTAL
|
577
|