"More air links from Province"
Northern Ireland Leisure Travel News- May 2004 (Issue 159)
The
Province has two more direct air services - this time from City of Derry Airport.
The Republic's
fastest growing regional airline Aer Arann is introducing new services from
the Province to Manchester and Birmingham.
Two months ago - on March 1 - Aer Arann began a Belfast City Airport to Cork
service with the aim of carrying 20,000 passengers in its first year.
The latest developments at City of Derry Airport come at a time when Ulster
travellers are being offered a whole range of new destinations on the European
mainland, direct from the Province. In recent months direct scheduled services
form Belfast International to Paris, Nice, Alicante, Malaga, Prague and Brussels
have been announced.
Teleticket have also said they would be looking at the possibility of a new
Spanish service from the City of Derry. Aer Arann's new flights to Manchester
and Birmingham will begin on June 7, and are projected to carry 18,000 passengers
each during their first year of operation.
Both City of Derry services will operate with fares starting at £39.99
one way plus tax. The Manchester service will depart Manchester on 9:25am
and the City of Derry Airport at 3pm. The Birmingham service will depart Derry
at 11:15am and Birmingham at 1:05pm.
Jennifer Mooney, Commercial Manager, Aer Arann said, "We are confident
that there will be substantial demand for both services in the departure and
destinations regions.
"Aer Arann has made significant progress in expanding business in the
UK market with the introduction of six new services since January 2004. We
look forward to growing these new routes and introducing further new services
in the near future."
City of Derry Airport Manager Seamus Devine welcomed the news; "I am
delighted the airport has secured these important air links from the North
West to the UK. Manchester and Birmingham are significant hub cities and it
is vitally important that business visitors and tourists can avail of these
important links."
Tourism Ireland, also welcomed Aer Arann's announcement of new air services
to Manchester and Birmingham. Paul O'Toole, Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland
said, "This is great news for tourism in Northern Ireland. This new service
will attract visitors from Manchester and Birmingham to Northern Ireland."
He added; "Following the announcements of the new French and Spanish
routes to Belfast, these new services are further evidence of the positive
growth that is taking place in Northern Ireland tourism."
Aer Arann currently operates over 124 flights per week in and out of UK airports
with 10 routes including; Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Belfast, Southampton
to Cork, London Luton, Edinburgh and Manchester to Galway, London Luton to
Waterford, Isle of Man to Dublin.
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