On March 16th, 1951, the first duty-free airport shop in the world, selling spirits as well as cigarettes to passengers, opened in the transit lounge at Shannon Airport in Co Clare. The latter exemption operated only providing the goods were not entering the country in which the free airport was located. They felt it would much greater customs and police staff to prevent smuggling of duty-free goods out of the airport. Shannon had the only duty-free airport shop in the world for the next seven years, when Schipol in Amsterdam became the second. Perhaps one of the greatest impacts the Shannon duty-free shop was to make was in relation to its role in the setting up of the duty-free operation at Dubai airport.

Source: The Irish Times March 24, 2026 13:08 UTC