Aer Lingus announce return to Ireland West Knock Airport
In a boost to the western region it was announced last week that the London-Gatwick - Ireland West Knock route has been re-installed.
The return has been widely welcomed with decision set to provide the airport and the region with interlining capabilities connecting business interests and tourism traffic in both directions. It will add an additional 127,000 annual seat capacity at Ireland West Airport Knock increasing its share of the Irish regional market to the UK to almost 20%.
Aer Lingus will commence the daily service to London Gatwick, the tenth busiest airport in the world, on April 6 2009 using an Airbus A320 aircraft with 174 seats, which brings Ireland West Knock’s connectivity to/from London airports to over 1,200 seats per day.
This latest route announcement will provide an increase of around 35,000 tourists to the region which is expected to inject almost w12 million in spend into the Western regional economy.
Welcoming the announcement, Robert Grealis, Chief Executive of Ireland West Airport Knock said “this is a major milestone for Ireland West Airport Knock as we welcome back Aer Lingus, our first interlining airline brand.
“It is a huge boost for the Airport and a massive vote of confidence in the region, which I am sure, will be much appreciated by the travelling public as well as by our region’s tourism and business communities. The Airport has always sought to provide our customers with a choice of airlines and destinations and this announcement is another major step in achieving this.”
Commenting on the announcement, Aer Lingus Chief Executive, Dermot Mannion said: “We are very excited at this opportunity to grow our business in Europe’s biggest aviation market and to extend our low-fares, quality offering to new travellers. We are offering consumers flights to top European business and leisure destinations at convenient times and competitive fares as part of a superior offering that sets us apart from our rivals.”
Ireland West Knock – London Gatwick flight times depart from Gatwick at 13:05 arriving into Ireland West Knock at 14:40.
Flights depart Ireland West Knock at 15:15, arriving into Gatwick at 16:50. Flights will commence April 6, 2009 with seats on sale now.
For more information on fares and schedules and to book flights between London Gatwick and Ireland West Airport, log on to www.aerlingus.com. Special introductory fares were launched last week starting from w19.99 one-way including taxes and charges!
Failte Ireland North West Chairman welcomes new service
Chairman of Failte Ireland North West, Paschal Mooney has warmly welcomed the return of Aer Lingus to Knock with the commencement of a new London Gatwick service in April 2009.
“This is a huge vote of confidence for Knock Airport and it provides a much needed boast for inbound tourism business to our region,” he said.
“We are facing challenging times for tourism in the North West and this latest route announcement will provide an increase of 35,000 visitors into the region. I hope this will be an added incentive to Bus Eireann management to confirm provision of direct links on bus services to the North West to coincide with the new route.
“In addition, I would now call on hotels and the accommodation sector to create attractive, innovative and competitive packages which will stimulate business from the UK. Britain is a key market for the North West and Knock Airport is critical in providing growth in visitor numbers and in driving our region’s tourism economy,” Mr Mooney said.
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Weather for Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland
Thursday 17 May 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 5 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 6 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
