This article is from page 7 of the 2014-04-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 7 JPG
IN WHAT has been hailed as a “hugely significant week” for the independent Shannon, nine new routes are starting operating out of Clare’s international airport over a five-day period.
Ryanair has added nine new routes to its Shannon services, while Aer Lingus has commenced a new service to Malaga as well as having a year-round transatlantic presence at the airport.
All in all, the 2014 summer season, which officially begins in April, will see 16 service enhancements at Shannon, including the nine new routes.
Less than 15 months after the airport was made independent, Shannon will enjoy its biggest week in almost a decade in terms of new route start-ups as Ryanair launches new services, to Munich, Paris, Faro, Warsaw, Krakow, Nice, Poitiers, Berlin, Fuerteventura, while Aer Lingus Regional kicks-off a new Bristol service.
Among the enhanced services is the now year-round Aer Lingus New York service which commenced on Sunday. This will be a six-times weekly service and is the first time Aer Lingus will have operated yearround on New York since 2009.
Aer Lingus also started a new twice-weekly Malaga service on Sunday, which will add to the significantly expanded European network to and from the airport this year.
“This week is a turning point for Shannon,” said Shannon Airport CEO Neil Pakey. “Not since 2005 has Shannon had a week like this in terms of new routes starting up and we see this as a real reward for the loyalty of our passengers across Ireland. They now have excellent choice from Shannon with 37 attractive destinations in Europe, the UK and North America.”
“Shannon Airport is a catalyst for growth for a region that stretches from Cork right up to the North West,” said Shannon chairperson, Rose Hynes. “We are the only airport across this region with transatlantic services and we worked particularly hard on developing that part of our business in 2013.
“We are delighted that this has paid off with new routes and improved connectivity. The next step for us was to grow our European route network and this week sees our efforts here bearing fruit.
“We listened to what our customers had to say and, with our airline partners, have delivered new services to nine great destinations. These new routes also connect us with destinations that have a strong inbound market and this presents a great opportunity for tourism here on the West Coast,” she added. New r out es commencing t his week fr om Sha nnon a r e: