Aer Lingus Expands Dublin Schedule for Summer 2013 ©

                                                     
Aer Lingus is to launch a new weekly Dublin to Corfu service on Sundays as part of its Summer 2013 schedule and will add one additional frequency routes to Bilbao, Dubrovnik,Lanzarote, Munich, Nice, Perpignan and Santiago de Compostela, Berlin and Zurich will have two additional weekly frequencies.

The airline operate four additional weekly flights to London Gatwick and Paris CDG and Copenhagen will operate six times weekly year round.

On the transatlantic schedule the airline will add an extra 112,000 seats an 15% increase in transatlantic capacity versus 2011 ,will take the form of 90 additional round-trips between Dublin and Boston and 120 additional round-trips between Dublin and Chicago, and Orlando will have one additional flight from 17th June to 10th August.

Aer Lingus Director of Communications Declan Kearney said “Our 2013 summer schedule offers our customers more choice with additional frequencies, new destinations and a great mix of city break and summer sun options. We’ve also significantly increased our number of transatlantic flights in response to customer demand. We look forward to welcoming customers on board the new services.”

Robert Hilliard Chief Operations Officer Dublin Airport said “New routes and increased frequencies strengthen Dublin Airport’s position in terms of choice for passengers whether they are originating here or overseas. An extra 15% in capacity on their transatlantic schedule, amounting to 112,000 more seats is a significant and welcome boost for passengers intending to travel to these destinations next year.”

EIN472 DUB0630 CFU1210
EIN473 CFU1255 DUB1445

Irish Aviation Research Institute © 22nd November 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Ryanair cuts Budapest base routes ©

                                                   
Ryanair announced a 40% reduction in its Budapest operations effective 10th January 2013 cutting its base fleet from 5 to 3 Boeing 737-800s closing ten routes and reducing frequency on nine routes ,with the loss of 110 weekly flights and 800,000 passengers after Budapest airport refused to offer a competitive cost base for future growth and efficient facilities, and increased charges.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said “Ryanair regrets Hochtief Budapest Airport’s decision to increase charges, impose inefficient facilities and reject our proposals for a competitive growth offer which would have allowed Ryanair to grow traffic and routes at Budapest.

Ryanair will remain one of the 2 largest airlines operating at Budapest, but Hochtief cannot continue to ignore the competitive marketplace, where airports all over Europe have been reducing costs and offering efficient facilities in return for traffic growth”.

Ryanair will cut routes to Baden, Birmingham,Bologna, Dusseldorf Weeze, Krakow, Lubeck, Malaga, Munich, Oslo Torp and Thessaloniki, also its cutting frequency on nine routes to Barcelona, Bergamo, Charleroi, Dublin, Madrid, Rome, Venice Treviso and Warsaw Modlin. These reductions will see Ryanair’s Budapest traffic will fall by 800,000 passenger passengers per annum from 2 million to 1.2 million.

The Dublin to Budapest route frequency will be reduced from five to three weekly flights from 10th January 2013.

Irish Aviation Research Institute © 22nd November 2012 All Rights Reserved.

City of Derry Airport unveils new 2030 Vision ©

Image: Google 

 The City of Derry Airport and Derry City Council unveiled its new ambitious first draft master plan for the development of the airport, setting out the vision to become "The Airport of choice for the north west of Ireland ". The airport has a market catchment of 1.571 million people within a 90 minute drive.

The key elements of the master plan include growing passenger numbers from 400,000 passengers per annum to 1.2 million per annum by 2030 (1.6 million by 2050), expand the route network portfolio to 10 destinations across Europe & UK, expansion of existing terminal and general aviation/business aviation facilities.

The master plan envisages the development of a new Aviation Business park and no extension of the existing runway as the passenger growth can be catered for within existing infrastructure available. The airport forecasts continued reliance on Low cost carriers (Ryanair accounts for 85% of traffic) and mix of aircraft types from the Boeing 737-800 to DHC8-400 adding increasing frequency on existing routes and double daily would make routes more appealing to business travelers.

Also the introduction of a regional carrier and ad-hoc seasonal charter flights and a lean routes with a 19 seat aircraft. In 2011 the PSO route between Dublin and City of Derry was terminated in March 2011, however Dublin and Cork have been identified as potential future destinations.

The City of Derry Airport is estimated to support 400 full time direct and indirect jobs contributing £14 million to the Northern Ireland economy and £7 million to the local economy each year, by 2022 it is estimated that the Airport will support 800 jobs in the local economy and adding £35 million to the Northern Ireland economy.

The draft plan is open for a three-month public consultation.

Irish Aviation Research Institute © 22nd November 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Aer Lingus announces new Shannon-Faro route ©

                                                   
Aer Lingus is to launch a new route from Shannon Airport to Faro operating three times weekly from 1st May to 13th September on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays using an Cork based Airbus A320 aircraft, generating an additional 20,000 passengers through the airport next year and will be welcome boost for sun seekers and holidaymakers from the West of Ireland.

In addition Aer Lingus has also brought forward the recommencement of services to New York and Boston to March 11th after a short winter break and just in time to meet the strong demand for St. Patrick’s weekend.

Aer Lingus will generate an estimated 570,000 plus passengers through Shannon in 2013 on key destinations such as New York, Boston, London-Heathrow, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Faro and Manchester.

Aer Lingus Director of Communications Declan Kearney said  “We are delighted to launch a new service from Shannon to the popular holiday destination and gateway to the Algarve, Faro. We look forward to welcoming customers on board the new service.”

Shannon Airport Director Mary Considine said “This is excellent news for Shannon Airport and more so for the many thousands of people from the West of Ireland that travel to the Algarve every year, be it for annual sun holidays, short leisure breaks or golf trips. It is also a clear indication by Aer Lingus that it has potential for growth at Shannon, particularly on European routes.”

EIN903 FAO1440 SNN1720
EIN904 SNN1800 FAO2040

Irish Aviation Research Institute © 22nd November 2012 All Rights Reserved.