AIRLINE ANNOUNCMENTS - JANUARY 2010

There was some interesting news from airlines serving Ireland in the first month of 2010 - On the down side.........

• BMI said it will close its aircraft base at Dublin from March 28th. This will reduce the current daily flight schedule to London Heathrow from six per day to four
• Ryanair will also cut the number of aircraft based in Ireland from March 28th. It will base three fewer planes in Dublin (18 to 15). This will reduce its traffic at Dublin Airport from 8.7 million passengers to 6.5 million in the year to March 2011. At Shannon airport, it will base just one aircraft compared to four last year. As a result, passenger numbers are anticipated to fall from a peak of 1.9 million to just 400,000 in 2010. These significant reductions will have a very detrimental effect on tourism revenues this year

On the up side.........

• Continental Airlines announced that it will add four flights a week on its Shannon to Newark route from May 28th to September 8th
• Aer Lingus will increase the number of routes it offers between Ireland and the UK through a new franchise agreement with Aer Arann. Branded Aer Lingus Regional services and sold on Aer Lingus's website, the routes will be operated by Aer Arann. The move will generate greater traffic from Bristol. Blackpool, Cardiff, Doncaster/Sheffield, Durham, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Jersey airports to Dublin and Cork

Separately, Aer Lingus rebranded itself as 'Ireland's Civilised Airline'. This is part of a plan to re-position itself somewhere between low-cost Ryanair and and full-service carriers such as British Airways. Many visitors will welcome the 'civilised' journey Aer Lingus is now promising. Now imagine if genuine hospitality was offered as well? Perhaps it might consider embracing Tourism Ireland's excellent 'Shine' campaign which was launched last year!