Shannon stopover to be phased out by 2008 [2min]

Ireland's Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, has signed an agreement with the US Secretary of Transport, Norman Mineta, which will see the phasing out of the Shannon stopover by April 2008. The stopover will go under an open skies agreement between the EU and the US due to be finalised next week. The transition period will begin in November of next year; during that time the number of flights having to stop in Shannon will be reduced to one in four on any scheduled route. The minister made the announcement in New York where he is meeting officials from the city's mass transit authority. Shannon became well known as the gateway between Europe and the Americas. Shannon Airport was completed in 1947, aircraft's limited range required air journeys to be interrupted for refuelling. Shannon was established as the world's first duty-free airport and became the most common European landing spot for planes crossing the Atlantic Ocean from North America.