New Shannon Airport and Ireland West Airport Knock Ryanair services have been announced.
Shannon Airport Services And Statement
Shannon Airport stated, "Air services at Shannon Airport are set to double from eight to sixteen in time for the lifting of the non-essential travel ban on the 19th July with a significant increase in destinations, services and frequencies.
"Ryanair currently operate eight services from Shannon which recommenced on 15th June to Barcelona-Reus, Stansted, Gatwick, Kaunas, Krakow, Wroclaw, Warsaw-Modlin and Manchester. A further eight services will commence to holiday sunspots including Corfu, a newly announced route, and Faro, Lanzarote, Malaga, Palma and Tenerife. With one additional new route to be announced shortly.
"In all, a total of 72 weekly flights will operate through Shannon up to the end of October. Ryanair will also begin operating a new Turin service from December to capture the winter ski market."
Shannon Group CEO Statement
CEO of Shannon Airport operator Shannon Group Mary Considine stated, "The reopening of international travel is a very significant step forward not only for Shannon Airport, but for the thousands of jobs and businesses along the Wild Atlantic Way and mid-west, that depend on these services to support their operations.
"With the introduction of the EU Digital COVID Certificate, together with the roll-out of the vaccination programme, which is powering ahead, there is a real sense of optimism in the air. Although there is a long road ahead of us to get airport passenger numbers back to anything like 2019 levels, it is important to acknowledge these milestones on our journey to recover and rebuild our business.
"In readiness for the reopening of international travel we are launching a two-prong marketing strategy with targeted radio, poster, press advertising, digital and social media marketing to welcome passengers back to Shannon Airport, and promote our air services."
New Ireland West Airport Knock Service
Meanwhile, Ryanair stated on its website that it has "a new winter service connecting Knock Airport and Milan Bergamo with two weekly flights from November as part of Ryanair's winter '21 schedule."
Ryanair Director Of Commercial Statement
In a statement published on Ryanair's website, Ryanair director of commercial Jason McGuinness said, "As vaccination rollout programmes continue in the coming months and Europe’s international travel rebounds, we are delighted to announce a new Knock route to Milan Bergamo, operating twice weekly from November as part of Ryanair's Irish winter '21 schedule. Knock consumers can now look forward to exploring the wonders of Italy's fashion capital, or choose from eight other UK or Spanish routes available from Knock this winter.
"Mindful that COVID restrictions change regularly, customers can now book flights for a well-deserved break knowing that if they need to postpone or change their travel dates, they can do so up to two times with a zero-change fee until the end of December 2021."
Ireland West Airport Knock Statement
A statement published on Ireland West Airport Knock's website said, "Ireland West Airport today welcomes the announcement by Ryanair of a new twice weekly service to Milan (Bergamo) in Italy to operate this winter.
"Flights will operate every Tuesday and Saturday throughout the winter season providing easy access to one of Europe's most beautiful, stylish and cosmopolitan cities…Today's announcement is a major vote in confidence in the airport as the airport looks to rebuild its route network post COVID-19 and means that Ryanair will now offer passengers a choice of 13 destinations across the UK and Europe to and from the airport in 2021."
Ireland West Airport Knock Managing Director Statement
In a statement also published on Ireland West Airport Knock's website, Ireland West Airport Knock managing director Joe Gilmore said, "The airport are delighted to welcome a new winter service to Milan with Ryanair, which will provide the people of the west and north-west of Ireland with our first winter European city break destination, which I have no doubt will be very popular following the resumption of non-essential travel from Monday 19th July - particularly amongst the weekend break seekers and the skiing community. In addition this new service will provided a much needed tourism boost for the west and north-west regions with the potential to welcome over 5,000 Italian visitors to the region this winter. We thank Ryanair for their continued unwavering support for the airport in expanding their route network during what continues to be a most challenging period."
© 2021 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
