Gatwick airport boss explains why Shannon-bound flights were displaying as Limerick

The boss of a British airport which sparked anger after its departure boards listed a flight bound for Shannon as heading to Limerick has explained the error.

Fianna Fail's Clare TD Cathal Crowe wrote to the chief executive of London Gatwick Airport, Stewart Wingate seeking answers as to why last Sunday night's flight to the Mid-West's main airport was listed as going to Limerick.

"Shannon Airport deserves its proper name," he said.

He had highlighted on social media the departure boards in Gatwick's South terminal displaying the FR1193 flight at 9.35pm as destination Limerick.

In fact this flight, operated by budget carrier Ryanair, was headed to Shannon Airport, according to aviation data.

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While Limerick is the closest major city to Shannon, the airport is actually located in Co Clare, and lies on the doorstep of Shannon Town.

The error made headlines across the world.

Mr Wingate has been back in contact with Mr Crowe explaining how the error occurred.

In the communication, shared on the Fianna Fail TD's social media feeds, he wrote: "We've investigated this and a recent IT update on one of our systems has wrongly pulled through flight information to Shannon displaying the destination to passengers as Limerick."

The airport chief said this had now been corrected, and all future flights to Shannon will be displated correctly at Gatwick.

Mr Crowe welcomed the news, and praised Gatwick bosses for acting so quickly.

"It's still Shannon Airport, not Limerick. Safe flying everyone," he wrote.

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