Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)
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222. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of flights operated by Omni Air International, that have landed in Shannon Airport in each of the past six weeks in tabular form; the number of flights operated by Omni Air International, that have passed through Irish air space in each of the past six weeks, in tabular form;; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35476/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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One of the key aims of the Chicago Convention of 1944, to which over 190 states are contracting parties, was to contribute to the growth and efficiency of civil aviation. A key tenet of the Convention is that it confers the right for non-scheduled flights to overfly and make stops for technical purposes in the territories of the contracting parties without requiring prior permissions.

At the same time the Chicago Convention was signed, an additional agreement, the International Air Services Transit Agreement, was also signed which provides the same right for scheduled flights.

As a result of these two agreements, the vast majority of flights which enter into, or transit through, Irish sovereign airspace do not require prior permission to do so. Therefore, the Department does not have statistics for the number of overflights or landings that Omni Air International may have operated, in the six-week period identified, under these two Agreements.

However, where the flight is proposed to carry munitions of war, under the Air Navigation Carriage of Munitions of War Orders 1973 & 1989, a prior exemption is required.

For flights proposed to take place, during the six-week period from 12 May 2025 to 27 June 2025, I can confirm that Omni Air international was granted 31 exemptions for landings at Shannon Airport and six exemptions for overflights. The 37 flights were granted exemptions for the carriage of unloaded personal issued weapons for travelling US military personnel, with no ammunition.