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Shannon Airport

Shannon Airport (Aerfort na Sionainne)  is an international airport located in County Clare in Ireland. It is adjacent to the Shannon Estuary and lies halfway between Ennis and Limerick. With over 1.5 million passengers in 2022, the airport is the third busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland, and the fifth busiest on the island.

The airport was built in the late 1930s, with the first commercial flight taking place in 1939. Shannon was the landing point for the first transatlantic proving flight in 1945 and became the world's first duty-free airport in 1947. By the 1960s, it was a busy refuelling stop for many transatlantic carriers. Europe's first United States border preclearance facility opened in 1986. At 3.2 km, Shannon has the longest runway in Ireland, which allowed it to be a designated alternative landing site for the Space Shuttle.

Establishment
In the late 1930s, transatlantic air traffic was dominated by flying boats, and a flying boat terminal was located at Foynes on the south side of the Shannon Estuary. However, it was realised that changing technology would require a permanent runway and airport. In 1936, the Government of Ireland confirmed that it would develop a 3.1 km2 site at Rineanna for the country's first transatlantic airport. The land on which the airport was to be built was boggy and on 8 October 1936 work began to drain it. In July 1939, a SABENA Savoia-Marchetti S.73 from Brussels via Croydon Airport was the first commercial flight to use the Rineanna airfield.

By 1942, a serviceable airport had been established and was named Shannon Airport. BOAC began scheduled service to Bristol on 21 February 1942 to provide a land plane connection between England and the flying boat terminal at Foynes. Aer Lingus began scheduled service to Dublin in August 1942.

Transatlantic service
By the end of World War II in 1945, the existing runways at Shannon were extended to allow transatlantic flights to take off. The first Air Services Agreement between Ireland and the United States in 1945 permitted U.S. airlines to serve only Shannon, and permitted Irish airlines to serve only Boston, Chicago and New York.

On 16 September 1945, the first transatlantic proving flight, a Pan Am DC-4, landed at Shannon from Gander. On 24 October 1945, the first scheduled transatlantic commercial flight using a land plane, an American Overseas Airlines DC-4, Flagship New England, stopped at the airport on the New York City–Gander–Shannon–London route. Trans World Airlines began service between New York and Paris via Gander and Shannon on 5 February 1946, and began a Shannon-Dublin tag flight in 1971 after the US Civil Aeronautics Board threatened to ban Aer Lingus from landing in New York. Aerlinte Eireann began service from Dublin to New York via Shannon on 28 April 1958.

In 1947, the "Customs Free Airport Act" established Shannon as the world's first duty-free airport, a move promoted by Brendan O'Regan. Shannon became a model for other duty-free facilities worldwide.

In 1969, it was announced that a new government agency, Aer Rianta (now the Dublin Airport Authority), would be given responsibility for Shannon Airport. Passenger numbers at the airport reached 460,000 that year. With the increase in passengers and the introduction of the Boeing 747, it was decided that a new enlarged terminal was needed. The first commercial operation of a 747 took place in April 1971, while the new terminal officially opened in May that year.

Aeroflot service
Aeroflot began service to Shannon in September 1975 as a stop between the Soviet Union and other Communist bloc countries, such as Cuba and Angola. Aeroflot kept its own fuel storage at Shannon and allowed the airport to sell the Soviet fuel to other airlines.

The United States demanded that Ireland suspend Aeroflot's Shannon operations following the shooting down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983, and Ireland temporarily banned Aeroflot later that year. Nonetheless, the Aeroflot operation returned and developed into a hub by the mid-1990s, with flights to New York, Chicago, Washington, Miami, and Havana, largely using Ilyushin Il-62 aircraft.

The cooperation between Aeroflot and Aer Rianta at Shannon also led to a joint venture between the two companies to open duty-free shops at Sheremetyevo Airport in 1987.

On 30 September 1994, Shannon was the site of the "circling over Shannon" diplomatic incident involving Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

The "Shannon stopover"
In 1990, the U.S.-Irish bilateral agreement was changed to allow Irish airlines to serve Los Angeles and additional U.S. airlines to serve Dublin via Shannon. An amendment in 1993 allowed airlines to provide direct transatlantic services to Dublin, but 50% of transatlantic flights had to either originate or stop over in Shannon. During the 1990s, the airport began to struggle. However, 1996 saw the beginning of Continental Airlines flying between Dublin, Shannon and Newark, New Jersey. Shannon began to rebound in the late 1990s with the success of the Irish economy, the improving situation in Northern Ireland and an influx of American tourists.

In 2005, an agreement was reached regarding a transitional period. Beginning in November 2006 and ending in April 2008, the agreement gradually eliminated restrictions on cargo services. For passenger service, it reduced the stopover requirement and allowed Irish airlines to serve three additional U.S. destinations.

In 2007, the European Union and the U.S. announced that an agreement had been reached on an open skies aviation policy (EU–US Open Skies Agreement). The agreement came into effect from 30 March 2008, leading to the abolition of the Shannon Stopover, although this would have happened under the 2005 agreement anyway.

2000s
Ryanair increased services and passenger numbers at the airport until 2008. In 2007, Shannon carried 3.2 million passengers. However, after a disagreement with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) in 2008, Ryanair announced that the number of based aircraft would be reduced from four to one and 150 jobs would be lost.

CityJet launched a twice-daily route to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in 2008 when Aer Lingus closed its London Heathrow flights. The company based an Avro RJ85 at Shannon. More services were under consideration, including a route to London City Airport; however CityJet pulled out of Shannon in October 2009 after Aer Lingus reinstated its Heathrow flights.

Independent operation, 2012 to present
In December 2012, it was announced that Shannon Airport would separate from the Dublin Airport Authority, who still own Dublin and Cork airports. On 31 December 2012 at 11:59 pm, Shannon Airport became a publicly owned commercial airport and is now operated and run by the Shannon Airport Authority plc. Shannon announced a target in 2012 to grow its passenger numbers to 2.5 million annually within five years. However, Shannon has fallen short of its stated targeted figure with just 1.74 million flying through the airport in 2017.

In March 2013, the new company appointed Neil Pakey as its first CEO. Traffic figures for June 2013 report an 8% increase on the previous year, the first time a traffic increase has been recorded in three years. On 21 March 2013, Ryanair announced a new twice-weekly route to Alicante, Spain, to begin on 5 June for the summer months. That brought Shannon's total to 33 seasonal scheduled summer routes. In August 2013, Aer Lingus announced a 1x weekly service to Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain, every Saturday during the winter months, using an A320. In October 2013, United Airlines confirmed it will increase capacity by 88% on its Shannon-Chicago route for 2014. In late 2013, Aer Lingus announced 2 new routes to Málaga, Spain, (two weekly) and to Bristol, UK, (one daily). Ryanair also announced 8 new routes from Shannon to continental Europe. The new routes began from the start of April 2014, and a second Boeing 737-800 was based at Shannon to accommodate the extra 300,000 passengers a year it would bring in. The destinations announced were Berlin Schonefeld, Beauvais, Memmingen, Warsaw Modlin, Kraków, Nice, Faro, and Fuerteventura.

On 4 July 2014, the "Bank of Ireland Runway Night Run" featured 1,200 people running along Shannon's runway to raise money for charity.

In late 2014, Aer Lingus Regional operator Stobart Air said that they would close their Shannon base in early 2015. They returned in June 2015 operating six flights weekly Birmingham service followed by six flights weekly Edinburgh service. In late 2015, they announced a new CEO for Shannon, Matthew Thomas. Ryanair announced that it will be ending its Paris and Memmingen routes in late 2016, and it also reduced its Manchester and London Stansted routes. Ryanair is aiming for 720,000 passengers in Summer 2017 even though they were close to 800,000 in Summer 2016. In October 2016, SAS announced a new route to Stockholm from 1 August 2017 to 7 October 2017. Shortly after that, Lufthansa announced a weekly service to Frankfurt, running from April to October in 2017. In September 2017, Ryanair announced a new Route to Reus. It will run through summer 2018 operating 2x weekly (Tuesdays and Saturdays), replacing the route to Berlin. The same day, Air Canada announced a new 4x weekly service to Toronto with the Boeing 737 MAX. In February 2018, Ryanair announced it would resume flights to Bristol and Liverpool from May 2018. In late 2018, Ryanair announced a new twice weekly service to Ibiza, and the resumption of flights to East Midlands, both beginning in April 2019. The East Midlands, Bristol and Ibiza flights are all being ceased at the end of the 2019 summer season due to fears of Brexit and the 737 MAX groundings. Due to the 737 MAX groundings, Air Canada and Norwegian Airlines suspended their routes to Shannon. This reduced the number of passenger by 120,000. On 23 October 2019, Lauda announced that they will launch a twice weekly flight to Shannon from their base in Vienna, operating every Wednesday and Saturday. The airport handled 1,864,762 passengers in 2018. This number is the highest passenger numbers since gaining independence from the DAA.

Usage for military stopovers
Shannon Airport has a history of foreign military use. A large part of its business in recent years has been military stopovers, currently almost all American; however, the airport was also frequently used by the Soviet military until the 1990s, since Ireland, having a traditional policy of military neutrality, was not a member of NATO. There were some restrictions, such as carrying no arms, ammunition, or explosives, and that the flights in question did not form part of military exercises or operations. Shannon saw military transports throughout the Cold War and during the first Gulf War.

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the Irish government offered the use of Shannon to the US government. When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, the government still allowed United States Armed Forces to use the airport. This caused controversy and was the subject of protests and a challenge brought to the High Court. As of November 2008, approximately 1.2 million troops had passed through Shannon since the beginning of the Iraq War. In 2012–2013, the military flight contracts are held by Omni Air International.

On 6 December 2005, the BBC programme Newsnight alleged that Shannon was used on at least 33 occasions by United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) flights, thought to be part of a US policy called extraordinary rendition. The New York Times reported the number to be 33, though referring to "Ireland" rather than Shannon, while Amnesty International has alleged the number of flights to be 50. Casement Aerodrome has seen similar reports. The United States and Ireland have denied these allegations. German Khaled El-Masri, who was mistakenly tortured by the CIA after being abducted by the Macedonian police, was taken to an Afghan black site by a plane which had stopped at Shannon Airport on its way to North Macedonia to pick him up. In response, Amnesty International Ireland reported that "the Irish Government knew that the CIA used Shannon Airport as part of their renditions operations" and called for an independent investigation into the use of Shannon Airport for extraordinary renditions operation by the USA.

After a call by the Irish Human Rights Commission that the Irish government inspect aircraft supposed to be a part of the US extraordinary rendition program, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern rejected these proposals. In a leaked diplomatic cable written by US Ambassador to Ireland Thomas C. Foley, Foley reported that Ahern thought it "might not be a bad idea to allow the random inspection of a few planes to proceed, which would provide cover if a rendition flight ever surfaced. He seemed quite convinced that at least three flights involving renditions had refueled at Shannon Airport before or after conducting renditions elsewhere".

Overview
The current airport terminal was opened on 27 March 2000 by the Minister for Public Enterprise, Mary O'Rourke. This facility has 40 check-in desks, five baggage carousels and 14 boarding gates (including six airbridges). There are nearly 20 aircraft parking stands. The car parks can hold 4,200 cars.

Much of the older landside section of the airport has been renovated with new 'Shannon Airport' branding. An airside area renovation and passenger separation project was completed in Summer 2010.

When Eirjet existed, its head office was located on the grounds of Shannon Airport.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance
In 1986, a United States border preclearance facility was opened at Shannon, eliminating the need to go through immigration on arrival in the United States. This operation was administered by the US Justice Department, specifically the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The first port director was Denis Riordan, who led the operation from 1988 to 1998.

In November 2008, it was announced that customs and agriculture inspections would be added, making Shannon the first airport in Europe to offer this service and to enable passengers to arrive in New York on a "domestic" basis. To have these facilities put in place, a two-storey, 7000 m2 extension to the main terminal building was constructed. The facility opened the morning of 5 August 2009.

These services were extended to cover private aircraft in 2010, making Shannon the first airport in Europe to offer US border preclearance for private aircraft. Shannon is the only airport to do so in Europe as of September 2016.

Between 2009 and 2020, British Airways operated business class–only flights between London City Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Of these, the westbound flights stopped for fuel in Shannon to allow them to take off from the short runway of the London City Airport, which is located in the London Docklands area. This stop also allowed passengers to clear US Customs and Immigration in Shannon rather than at JFK. Introduced in 2009, two flights per day, one of which carried the flight number BA1, were operated using A318 aircraft capable of operating steep approaches. The flights were halved in 2017, and in 2020, amid their suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced that the flights would not be resumed.

Security
In 2021, Shannon Airport deployed CT scanners at passenger security checkpoints, enabling it to lift the restrictions on liquids which had been in place since 2006.

Passenger
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Shannon:

Cargo
The following cargo carriers are operating from Shannon Airport:

Road

Shannon Airport is the end destination of the N19 national route, which connects to the N18/M18 Limerick–Ennis–Galway route. It is also the western end of European road E20. A dual carriageway section of the N19 was finished in 2004, bypassing the town of Shannon, and a new interchange and dual carriageway north to Ennis were completed in 2007 on the N18 (M18). It is approximately 25 km west of Limerick and around 85 km south of Galway. Dublin is approximately 223 km away and Cork is around 125 km away.

Bus
Bus Éireann services from/to the airport:
 * Route 51: Galway – Limerick – Cork
 * Route 343: Limerick – Shannon – Ennis

Car hire
Car hire is available in the arrivals hall of the terminal building, with five car rental firms operating at the airport. Private-hire coaches and buses such as Eirebus are available from many operators; these need to be pre-booked and can transport passengers to any destination in Ireland.

Car parking
Shannon Airport offers both short-term and long-term parking within the airport with over 5,000 spaces available. All car parks operate 24 hours and are regularly patrolled by Airport Police.

Rail link
For many years, a rail link to the airport (as a spur from the nearby Limerick–Ennis line) has been proposed, but nothing has materialised. Connecting with the nearest major stations (Ennis railway station and Limerick railway station) requires bus or taxi. Sixmilebridge is the nearest station to the airport.

Accidents and incidents
Due to the location of Shannon, the airport receives a large number of emergency stopovers.

 * 16 July 1943 – British Overseas Airways Corporation de Havilland DH91 Fortuna crash-landed short of the Runway 14 threshold. There were no injuries.
 * 18 June 1946 – an Aer Lingus Douglas DC-3, EI-ACA, Charlie Alpha, on a domestic flight from Rineanna to Dublin crashed shortly after takeoff with only minor injuries reported. The aircraft made a wheels-up landing short of the runway and was damaged beyond repair.
 * 28 December 1946 – TWA Lockheed Constellation NC86505 Flight 6963 crashed attempting to land at the airport in poor visibility. The aircraft was routing Paris, Shannon, Gander, New York. The aircraft crashed on its second attempt short of runway 14 on Inishmacnaughtan Island. Nine of the 23 people on board died.
 * 15 April 1948 – Pan Am Flight 1-10, a Lockheed Constellation crashed attempting to land at the airport. 30 Passengers and crew died in the post crash fire. There was one survivor.
 * 5 September 1954 – Lockheed Super Constellation PH-LKY, KLM Flight 633 from Amsterdam to New York City, using Shannon as a refuelling stop, crashed just after takeoff into a mudbank adjacent to the airport. 28 people on board died. There were 28 survivors.
 * 15 July 1956 – a Swissair Convair CV-440-11 crashed on approach to the airport due to pilot error. The aircraft was on its delivery flight from San Diego, California, to Zürich via New York, Gander and Shannon. The crash killed all four crew on board.
 * 14 August 1958 – Lockheed Super Constellation PH-LKM KLM Flight 607-E from Amsterdam to New York crashed into the Atlantic Ocean after a refuelling stop at Shannon, killing all 99 passengers and crew on board.
 * 22 June 1959 - Pan American DC-6B N5026K, Clipper Panama, caught fire and burned on the runway as it was preparing to take off. The aircraft was preparing for a flight to New York. The number 1 propeller blade on the number 4 engine detached due to metal fatigue. The imbalance on the spinning propeller caused the engine to detach from the engine housing and a fire erupted on the wing. The eight occupants escaped from the aircraft, which was subsequently destroyed by fire.
 * 26 February 1960 – an Alitalia Douglas DC-7C I-DUVO crashed after the port wingtip struck the wall of a cemetery after taking off from the airport. The aircraft had made an unscheduled refuelling stop en route from Rome to New York. The aircraft had not gained sufficient height to clear the hilltop where the cemetery is located. The aircraft then crashed in the field where it exploded and disintegrated, scattering wreckage over a wide area. 34 people out of 52 passengers and crew on board died as a result of the accident. One cabin crew member, a steward who was seated at the rear of the aircraft, survived the accident.
 * 26 March 1961 - An Eagle Airways DC-6A G-APOM was damaged and subsequently destroyed by fire during a touch and go training exercise. The aircraft had landed on runway 24 and was accelerating for takeoff when the landing gear was inadvertently raised before the aircraft became airborne. The DC-6 settled onto the runway, veered to the left off the paved surface and onto the grass.  A fire began on the port wing and eventually consumed and destroyed the aircraft. There were no injuries among the six crew, who evacuated the aircraft.
 * 10 September 1961 – a President Airlines Douglas DC-6 crashed into the river Shannon after taking off from the airport on a flight to Gander. The disaster killed all 83 passengers and crew, one of the worst air disasters in Ireland's history. One cabin crew member survived the crash but died a few hours after being rescued.
 * 30 September 1977 – an Interconair Bristol 175 Britannia 253 EI-BBY crashed in a field to the right of runway 24 after severe vibration on the approach. The left wing broke off and caught fire, but none of the six crew were injured in the crash.
 * 2 October 1977 - Capitol Air DC-8-61 N911CL aborted takeoff on runway 24 as it accelerated for takeoff en route Rome-Shannon-Windsor Locks. There was a failure of tyres on the left main wheel bogie during taxi, and as the aircraft accelerated the tyre shredded and sent tyre fragments up into the wing underside, rupturing the fuel tanks. The escaping fuel ignited and caused a rapid large fire under the left wing. ATC spotted the fire as did the crew of a sister aircraft which was taxiing in after landing. The aircraft was just at the point of V1 when takeoff was abandoned and the DC-8 decelerated and stopped just short of the end of runway 24. The aircraft was evacuated and approximately 50 passengers were injured during the evacuation. The aircraft was seriously damaged but repaired and returned to service a number of months later. Had the aircraft become airborne, it is likely the left wing would have failed and the aircraft would have crashed.
 * 20 June 1979 – American Airlines Flight 293 landed in Shannon after being hijacked.
 * 5 February 2024 – Cargolux Boeing 747-400 LX-NCL, carrying flowers from Miami to Amsterdam, diverted to Shannon Airport due to a cargo deck fire warning. The aircraft landed safely and the crew was evacuated, but airport fire crews found no evidence of heat, smoke or fire. The runway where the flight landed was closed for two hours.

Environmental issues
As Shannon Airport has been built adjacent to the Shannon Estuary, it is likely to have problems with rising sea levels and high waters in the Shannon. The government is working on plans to protect both the airport and the town.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Shannon Airport


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James Richardson

James Richardson may refer to:

Politicians

 * James Armstrong Richardson (1922–2004), Canadian politician
 * James Burchill Richardson (1770–1836), Governor of South Carolina, 1802–1804
 * James D. Richardson (1843–1914), Democrat from Tennessee, U.S. House Minority Leader, 1899–1903
 * James M. Richardson (politician) (1858–1925), U.S. Representative from Kentucky
 * James Richardson (Liberal politician) (1846–1921), Liberal Member of Parliament for Armagh
 * James Richardson (political consultant) (born 1984), Republican political strategist
 * James Richardson (Massachusetts), member of the Massachusetts Senate

Sports

 * James Richardson (darts player) (born 1974), English darts player
 * James Richardson (footballer) (1885–1951), Scottish footballer for Huddersfield Town, Sheffield Wednesday, and Ayr United
 * Jimmy Richardson (1911–1964), English footballer
 * James Richardson Spensley (1867–1915), English doctor, footballer and manager, considered to be the father of football in Italy
 * James Richardson (sportsman) (1903–1995), English cricketer and rugby union player

Military

 * James M. Richardson (general) (born 1960), lieutenant general in the United States Army
 * James Cleland Richardson (1895–1916), Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross
 * James L. Richardson, United States Army general
 * James O. Richardson (1878–1974), admiral in the United States Navy prior to World War II

Others

 * James Richardson (explorer) (1809–1851), British explorer of the Sahara
 * James Richardson (poet) (born 1950), American poet
 * James Richardson, owner of Spadina Hotel, Toronto
 * James Richardson (presenter) (born 1966), British television presenter associated with Italian football
 * James Richardson (1819–1892), Canadian businessman
 * James Richardson & Sons
 * Jim Richardson (born 1941), English jazz bassist and session musician
 * James Richardson Corporation, Australian corporation involved with furniture, hospitality, real estate, and the duty-free retail businesses
 * James Armstrong Richardson Sr. (1885–1939), Canadian businessman
 * James Joseph Richardson (born 1935), American man wrongly convicted of the murder of his children
 * James Smith Richardson (1883–1970), Scottish architect, antiquarian and archaeologist
 * James T. Richardson (born c. 1943), American sociologist who wrote extensively about new religious movements, popularly called cults

title: James Richardson


text:
James Richardson Corporation

The James Richardson Corporation, also going by the name James Richardson Group or JR/Group, is an Australian furniture, hospitality, real estate and retail corporation, headquartered in the Abbotsford suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It is privately owned and employs approximately 2,300 people worldwide. It is perhaps best known among consumers for its duty-free retail stores in airports and border crossings in Australasia and the Middle East. The company is a household name in Israel due to its duty-free stores in Terminal 3 of Ben Gurion Airport.

History
Scottish-born James Richardson (c. 1864–1951) immigrated from Ayrshire to New South Wales in 1886 and worked at the Wentworth Hotel, Sydney before relocating to Melbourne as a barman at Hotel Windsor. By July 1916 Richardson was the proprietor of two wine and spirits stores in Melbourne. In 1928 he commissioned the building of the Hotel Alexander, which became the seventh in his hotel chain and along with his four wine and spirit shops made him "the biggest figure in Australia's hotel trade." He sold off five hotels in 1944 and when he died in August 1951 he was "worth approximately £2 million."

Australia and New Zealand
Eight duty-free stores in Australia and three in New Zealand operate under the trade name JR/Duty Free. Seven are located inside international airports and four in major city centres.

James Richardson first began duty-free retailing in Australia in 1972, opening a single store at Brisbane Airport. The company expanded over the next two decades, opening further duty-free stores in Sydney Airport, Melbourne Airport, Perth Airport and Cairns Airport, and twenty-three stores in all major city centres. The company sold this entire operation to Swissair in 1995, choosing instead to concentrate on the furniture and textiles business and the company's Israeli duty-free retail operation.

Ten years later, the company, this time trading under its current trade name, JR/Duty Free, again reentered the Australian market, opening city centre duty-free stores in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, and later Brisbane, and winning a ten-year concession to operate at Darwin Airport from February 2007.

In 2009, JR/Duty Free was awarded one of the available duty-free concessions in Auckland Airport in New Zealand, and purchased the duty-free concession at Wellington International Airport from a rival firm. Both operations commenced in July of that year, and in 2010, another store opened in Christchurch International Airport.

Over the last few years, JR/Duty Free has continued to expand, reopening stores in Cairns Airport in March 2012, Perth Airport in November 2013,  and most recently, Brisbane Airport in September 2014.

Israel
In 1987, the Israel Airports Authority issued a tender for a total area of more than 1,000 square metres (of retail space) (at Ben Gurion Airport). Five companies bid for the tender and James Richardson was the winner.

The company stores in Israel officially opened on 14 November 1988. The company has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars (into the venture), including a new store with an 800-square metre cosmetics and perfume area, a 300-square metre consumer electronics area, a 150-square metre watch store and a 150-square metre fashion area.

Turnover has increased continuously since the start of operations. Total sales in the first year were about 20 million US dollars, while in recent years the total sales in Israel today is over 400 million: an increase of about 2,000% in 20 years.

There are now eight James Richardson duty-free stores in Terminal 3 of Ben-Gurion Airport. In addition, James Richardson operates duty-free stores at the Allenby Bridge border crossing with Jordan, the Taba Border Crossing with Egypt, and operates at the ports of Haifa and Ashdod - including providing supplies for ships crews, and warehouses for supplies for UN forces and diplomats.

The company also operates a store in Haifa Airport, in cruise ships of the Israeli cruise line Mano, and the duty-free carts on Arkia and Israir flights.

In 1989, James Richardson pioneered a shopping storage and pickup service, which led to increased sales and was subsequently adopted by the company in its other stores in Australia and New Zealand. The service was the brainchild of Ze'ev Sarig, then responsible for security at Ben Gurion Airport (and later became its managing director). The idea came to him after buying a bottle of whiskey on his way abroad. The service allows passengers to make duty-free purchases before leaving the country, store them at the airport, and receive them upon their return. The service was first implemented in August 1989, and within two months it had already been used by some 8,000 passengers.

Other
James Richardson has an interest in Tahiti Duty Free located within Fa'a'ā International Airport in Tahiti.

title: James Richardson Corporation


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Immunosuppression

Immunosuppression is a reduction of the activation or efficacy of the immune system. Some portions of the immune system itself have immunosuppressive effects on other parts of the immune system, and immunosuppression may occur as an adverse reaction to treatment of other conditions.

In general, deliberately induced immunosuppression is performed to prevent the body from rejecting an organ transplant. Additionally, it is used for treating graft-versus-host disease after a bone marrow transplant, or for the treatment of auto-immune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren's syndrome, or Crohn's disease. This is typically done using medications, but may involve surgery (splenectomy), plasmapheresis, or radiation. A person who is undergoing immunosuppression, or whose immune system is weak for some other reasons (such as chemotherapy or HIV), is said to be immunocompromised.

Deliberately induced
Administration of immunosuppressive medications or immunosuppressants is the main method for deliberately inducing immunosuppression; in optimal circumstances, immunosuppressive drugs primarily target hyperactive components of the immune system. People in remission from cancer who require immunosuppression are not more likely to experience a recurrence. Throughout its history, radiation therapy has been used to decrease the strength of the immune system. Dr. Joseph Murray of Brigham and Women's Hospital was given the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1990 for work on immunosuppression.

Immunosuppressive drugs have the potential to cause immunodeficiency, which can increase susceptibility to opportunistic infection and decrease cancer immunosurveillance. Immunosuppressants may be prescribed when a normal immune response is undesirable, such as in autoimmune diseases.

Steroids were the first class of immunosuppressant drugs identified, though side-effects of early compounds limited their use. The more specific azathioprine was identified in 1960, but it was the discovery of ciclosporin in 1980 (together with azathioprine) that allowed significant expansion of transplantation to less well-matched donor-recipient pairs as well as broad application to lung transplantation, pancreas transplantation, and heart transplantation. After an organ transplantation, the body will nearly always reject the new organ(s) due to differences in human leukocyte antigen between the donor and recipient. As a result, the immune system detects the new tissue as "foreign", and attempts to remove it by attacking it with white blood cells, resulting in the death of the donated tissue. Immunosuppressants are administered in order to help prevent rejection; however, the body becomes more vulnerable to infections and malignancy during the course of such treatment.

Non-deliberate immunosuppression

Non-deliberate immunosuppression can occur in, for example, ataxia–telangiectasia, complement deficiencies, many types of cancer, and certain chronic infections such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The unwanted effect in non-deliberate immunosuppression is immunodeficiency that results in increased susceptibility to pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses.

Immunodeficiency is also a potential adverse effect of many immunosuppressant drugs, in this sense, the scope of the term immunosuppression in general includes both beneficial and potential adverse effects of decreasing the function of the immune system.

B cell deficiency and T cell deficiency are immune impairment that individuals are born with or are acquired, which in turn can lead to immunodeficiency problems. Nezelof syndrome is an example of an immunodeficiency of T-cells.

title: Immunosuppression


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DB Cargo

DB Cargo (previously known as Railion and DB Schenker Rail) is an international transport and logistics company. It is responsible for all of the rail freight transport activities of the German railway company Deutsche Bahn (the DB Group) both inside Germany and on a global level. DB Cargo has a registered office in Mainz and a further administrative office in Frankfurt am Main.

The company was founded as DB Cargo AG on 1 January 1999 under the second stage of liberalisation reform of the German railway system (Bahnreform) underway around this time. Initial operations were primarily focused on the rail freight market within Germany; however, during early 2000, the company was reorganised under the Railion holding company as part of a merger between DB Cargo and the Dutch state-owned rail company Nederlanse Spoorwegen's rail freight operations. This new structure was designed for the cooperation, and incorporation, of future partnerships with other rail freight companies; between 2004 and 2009, Railion expanded its operations into Italy, Switzerland, and Poland, typically via acquisitions. Following the acquisition of Schenker AG in the early 2000s, the company was restructured again and adopted the DB Schenker Rail branding. During 2016, to indicate its core focus on rail freight transportation, the company was once more rebranded as DB Cargo AG; this naming scheme has been progressively replicated across the majority of its international subsidiaries as well.

The services provided by DB Cargo include both block train and single wagonload transport services, the latter of which have been abandoned by many of the company's rivals. Based on the number of kilometres travelled, DB Cargo is the market leader in both Germany and Europe, although its transport services have been in decline for several years. Seeking to reverse this decline, a more flexible price structure was adopted alongside various cost-cutting measures in 2016. During the early 2020s, major global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine have challenged the company and driven changes. Within the context of the battle against climate change, however, the role of DB Cargo is also thought to be increasingly important, as the company offers transport options that are entirely carbon neutral. However, the company has been criticised for a lack of investment into both its rolling stock and infrastructure, and thus constraining its performance. In late 2019, Sigrid Evelyn Nikutta took on the role of CEO of DB Cargo.

German rail reform
At the end of the 1990s, the operational business of Deutsche Bahn was reorganised into five legally independent joint-stock companies. This measure formed part of the second stage of the German rail reform. Within the scope of this restructuring, a precursor company was initially established in 1997, which had the purpose of facilitating a transformation of the entity's rail freight transport division structured under public law into a private enterprise company. Accordingly, on 1 January 1999, the company DB Cargo AG was ultimately founded to undertake these operations. The headquarters of DB Cargo AG were established in Mainz.

European expansion
At first, DB Cargo solely focused on its domestic activities. Accordingly, the Deutsche Bahn Group produced investment plans that directed billions in its subsidiary in order to improve its position in the German transport and logistics market. As the competitive environment with other European providers became increasingly challenging in the late 1990s, Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the Dutch state-owned rail company Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) announced plans to merge their rail freight transport activities in 1998.

Together, DB Cargo and NS Cargo reached revenues of around 6.9 billion Deutsche Mark (3.5 billion euros) and had roughly 50,000 employees. Their amalgamation was the first ever cross-border rail merger, in which Deutsche Bahn retained its majority share of 94%. A financial holding company, Railion GmbH, was created for this new company, and commenced operations during early 2000.

Internationalisation
The successful creation and launch of Railion laid the foundation for the establishment of a leading European transport and logistics company. Specifically, from the onset, the organisation was open to the incorporation of further partners. While the European Commission and European Parliament aimed to promote competition among providers, the providers themselves instead opted to foster cooperation. During 2001, the Danish state-owned rail company Danske Statsbaner (DSB) opted to merge its rail freight transport activities into the joint venture, becoming its third partner and received shares totalling 2% in Railion in return, thus decreasing the stake of Deutsche Bahn in the venture to 92%.

The cooperation between DB, NS and DSB has reportedly played an essential role in Deutsche Bahn's long-term strategy for expansion in other European countries. This strategy covered not only state-owned rail companies but also the acquisition of private sector rivals, for example in Italy (2004), Switzerland (2007) and Poland (2009). These were joined by a multitude of smaller acquisitions such as the transport and logistics divisions of RAG AG. In Sweden, where Deutsche Bahn was unable to acquire its chosen target, the company instead focused on establishing collaborative ventures. At the end of the 2000s, Railion was therefore able to not only offer connections across large stretches of Europe running from north to south, but reliably serve rail route that run from west to east as well.

Despite this expansion into the rai freight sectors of several neighbouring nations, the presence of effective competition to provide freight services had reportedly made a negative impact on the company's economic development by May 2005. Recognising the company's unfavourable financial position, Deutsche Bahn opted to respond by enacting numerous cost-saving measures; these were credited with a significant improvement in Railion's circumstances. During 2010, the rail freight transport crisis was initially deemed to have been largely resolved.

Linking rail and road
During early 2003, Deutsche Bahn transferred its share in Railion to the (which later became DB Mobility Logistics). After the successful acquisition of the then-listed logistics company Stinnes, including its freight forwarding subsidiary Schenker AG, a restructuring of responsibilities took place within Deutsche Bahn. Subsequently, DB Cargo, NS Cargo and most of the other Railion companies solely focused on freight forwarding while Stinnes and Schenker took on central tasks in the fields of rail freight transport and sales. By consolidating all of its transport and logistics activities, Deutsche Bahn also aimed to achieve growth in the freight transport domain. The company adjusted its image to reflect this aim and as a result, DB Cargo was renamed Railion Deutschland.

At this point, the general objective pursued by Deutsche Bahn was to better cover the entire transport chain with all transportation means and routes. Over the years that followed, however, this approach mainly resulted in a shift of its freight transport activities away from the rails and towards the road network instead. The company realised that it needed to improve the links between its rail and road transport in particular, and securing acquisitions was one way to do so. In 2009, Deutsche Bahn abandoned the Railion brand and instead chose to consolidate all of its rail freight transport activities under the name DB Schenker Rail. At the time, its organisational structure remained unchanged. Media reports, however, already began to speculate about a stock market launch of the newly formed DB Schenker division.

Company restructuring
During the 2010s, the business operations of DB Schenker Rail experienced a significant decline. One of the primary factors behind this decline was the economic slump that had followed the global economic and financial crisis. The company initially responded to this negative development by introducing a more flexible price structure. It aimed to use a combination of block trains for large clients and bookings of single wagons to establish a fixed timetable that would in turn increase the capacity utilisation of its trains. Other measures considered included the closure of numerous freight railway stations in order to reduce fixed costs, and efforts to reduce staff headcount at all levels of the business.

News of these cost reduction measures was quickly met with sharp criticism by various trade unions; their opposition included demands that the approach be abandoned immediately, and accusations of the company's mismanagement. Following several months of negotiations, the Deutsche Bahn Group and its works council finally agreed on a restructuring programme for DB Cargo during February 2007. Under this programme, the previously proposed across-the-board job cuts that year were avoided, instead, the new approach aimed for the gradual reduction of headcount over a period of several years. On the whole, the company retained its ambition to grow its freight transport activities.

To reflect the company's focus on its core business activities in the domain of rail freight transport, it was again renamed, adopting the DB Cargo AG designation in early 2016. The name was also readopted for its most important German and international subsidiaries and continues to apply in the present day. Accordingly, DB Cargo and DB Schenker are equal sister companies within the integrated rail system of the DB Group.

Recent developments
According to media reports, DB Cargo reduced its fleet size by nearly one half in the 2000s and 2010s. The remaining locomotives were increasingly replaced by multi-system models that can also be used in the international rail network. Furthermore, the company also equipped its inventory of wagons with whisper brakes, which had reportedly halved the noise pollution generated by the movement of its freight trains. Another area of investment by the company has been the addition of state-of-the-art sensors and telematics, which has reportedly been responsible for improvements in its competitiveness. Seeking to progress developments in this area, between 2016 and 2019, DB Cargo played a leading role in the "Innovative Freight Wagons" research project conducted on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BWVI). Although the wagons used by DB Cargo have generally become older in recent years, they have also increased in size so that they can transport larger quantities of goods.

As of 2020, the majority of freight is still being transported by road, DB Cargo stands to gain from the increased interest in its services due to the expectation that rail freight transport will play an essential role in achieving climate targets. Within this context and based on expert opinions, in September 2019, the German Federal Government announced plans to transfer millions of lorry trips from road to rail, although similar attempts made in previous years had reportedly achieved little progress. One of the main measures planned towards achieving this aim is the gradual optimisation of train drivers' productivity. The current changes being implemented at DB Cargo form part of the strategy to strengthen Deutsche Bahn in its entirety that was launched in 2019.

During the global outbreak of the novel respiratory disease COVID-19, which hindered cross-border logistics due to limitations in the area of passenger and goods transport, the company was able to secure its transport operations successfully. DB Cargo provided additional capacities for transporting supplies for the population, especially food and hygiene products. The running of large special freight services, such as the "Pasta Express" from Italy, attracted considerable media attention. Shortly after the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, DB Cargo started hauling aid from across Europe to Ukraine; however, military officials have issued warnings that DB Cargo lacks sufficient capacity to meet the needs of a large scale military conflict in Eastern Europe.

Organisational structure
DB Cargo AG, a public limited company under German law, acts as a holding company for the operational entities. Its corporate purpose covers rail and road services for the transportation of all kinds of goods and the procurement and operation of stationary and mobile means of transport such as locomotives, railcars, wagons and other containers. Its articles of association also cover related services. The holding company is entitled to carry out all activities deemed to serve the specified business purpose either directly or indirectly. This includes the establishment and management of companies and the acquisition of other companies.

Owners
DB Cargo AG has a share capital of 256,007,000,000 euros, which is divided into 51,201,400 no-par value bearer shares. When it transferred the assets and liabilities of its former freight transport division as part of the spin-off for the establishment of a new company, Deutsche Bahn AG acquired all of the company's shares and is therefore the sole shareholder of DB Cargo AG. A control and profit-and-loss-transfer agreement is in place between the parent company and subsidiary. DB Cargo AG is included in the consolidated financial statement of Deutsche Bahn. The company Deutsche Bahn AG is in turn wholly owned by the Federal Republic of Germany.

Management board
The Board of Management of DB Cargo AG is composed of at least two people, one of whom is responsible for staff-related and social matters in connection with employees. Otherwise, the Supervisory Board determines the number and identities of the members of the Board of Management The current Members of the DB Cargo AG Board of Management are Sigrid Evelyn Nikutta (Chairwoman), Ursula Biernert (Human Resources), Thorsten Dieter (Service), Ralf Günter Kloß (Production), Martina Niemann (Finance/Controlling) and Pierre Timmermans (Sales). The percentage of women on the board exceeds the average value of other German companies.

Supervisory board
The supervisory board of DB Cargo AG has 20 members. It is composed of shareholder and employee representatives in equal measure, who are elected according to the regulations of the and. The supervisory board currently has six female and 14 male members. Its chairman is, who has been the CEO of Deutsche Bahn since 2017. The vice-chairman is Martin Burkert, a member of the board of the (EVG). Claus Weselsky, chairman of the German Train Drivers' Union (GDL), is another member of the supervisory board, which therefore contains representatives from the two leading trade unions for the rail industry in Germany.

Companies
The business operations of DB Cargo are divided into three regions: Germany, Central Europe and Western & Eastern Europe. The German company DB Cargo AG is responsible for both operational services in the field of rail freight transport in Germany and central functions such as production, sales, finance and human resources for the entire DB Cargo Group.

During 2010, Deutsche Bahn joined several other railway companies in becoming a partner of the European, represented by its subsidiary DB Schenker Rail (now DB Cargo). Ever since it was established, the alliance has focused on the objective of making single wagonload transport, namely freight trains with wagons used by different clients, a more competitive alternative to lorry transport. Xrail also aims to achieve more customer-friendly service, efficiency and punctuality in cross-border transport, for example with its universal booking system, Xrail Capacity Booking (XCB).

Rail freight transport
Within the Deutsche Bahn Group, DB Cargo is mainly responsible for the following subsidiary and sister companies, all of which are directly involved in the domain of rail freight transport:

 * DB Cargo Belgium, Antwerp, Belgium
 * DB Cargo Bulgaria, Pirdop, Bulgaria
 * DB Cargo Czechia, Ostrava, Czech Republic
 * DB Cargo Danmark, Taastrup, Denmark (formerly DSB Cargo)
 * DB Cargo Eurasia GmbH, Berlin, Germany (formerly Trans-Eurasia Logistics)
 * DB Cargo France, Paris, France (formerly Euro Cargo Rail)
 * DB Cargo Hungária, Győr, Hungary
 * DB Cargo Italia, Novate Milanese, Italy (formerly SFM Strade Ferrate del Mediterraneo)
 * DB Cargo Nederland, Utrecht, Netherlands (formerly NS Cargo)
 * DB Cargo Polska, Zabrze, Poland (formerly PCC Rail)
 * DB Cargo Romania, Timișoara, Romania
 * DB Cargo Russija, Moscow, Russia
 * DB Cargo Schweiz, Basel, Switzerland (formerly BRS Brunner Railway Services)
 * DB Cargo UK, Doncaster, United Kingdom
 * Transfesa (Transportes Ferroviarios Especiales), Madrid, Spain

Service companies
These are joined by further companies that have special responsibilities in areas such as sales, transporting dangerous goods and combining traffic flows:
 * DB Cargo BTT
 * DB Cargo Logistics
 * DB Intermodal Services
 * TFG Transfracht
 * Transa Spedition

Service catalogue
The service catalogue of DB Cargo consists of a wide variety of basic, additional and special services. The company's core products particularly include block train and single wagonload transport services, the combination of rail and road, and carbon-neutral transport, for example for Audi. The latter is becoming increasingly important given that rail transport currently has the lowest carbon emissions of all carriers and also achieved the largest savings in recent years (1995–2015).

The company additionally offers a wide range of industry solutions, for example for the chemicals industry and the timber and building materials trades. DB Cargo is also active on an international level. Its global operations particularly focus on transport between Europe and Asia, where the company has an extensive network. Its service portfolio also includes related services such as the sale and rental of locomotives and wagons.

Key figures
In the 2018 business year, DB Cargo transported more than 255 million tonnes of goods in 2,686 traction units and 82,895 goods wagons. Leased or hired materials are factored into these totals. The company provided its services on around 4,200 sidings belonging to clients in Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland. It transported goods along a route network covering a total of 33,000 kilometres in Germany and, according to calculations by the (BAG), achieved an average punctuality rate of 72.9% when providing these services.

Criticism
During 2019, DB Cargo was reportedly operating at a loss. Critics have accused Deutsche Bahn of having neglected the necessary maintenance work on, and the modernisation of, DB Cargo's infrastructure; claims have also been made that the comparably high average age of its locomotives and wagons is a prime example of this problem. In September 2019, the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) responded to criticism by the German Federal Court of Auditors regarding the company's lack of investments by arguing that DB Cargo and other segments had yet to exhaust their full potential.

During mid 2022, the European Commission (EC) conducted an investigation into the allegedly unfair provision of state aid to DB Cargo from the German government. Limited amounts of state aid, such as to offset the abnormal economic conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, have been approved by the EC in the past.

Single wagonload transport have played a special role in the economic development of DB Cargo and the wider rail freight sector alike. In the late 2010s, experts were issuing demands that the company subsidise its activities, or shrink its business, in this area in order to remain a strong competitive alternative to lorry transport.

Following the Great Belt Bridge rail accident, in which eight people died, a union representative from DB Cargo was convicted of evidence tampering.

title: DB Cargo