Fast expanding Irish regional carrier Aer Arann, has introduced three new services to the UK, including daily flights from Waterford to Birmingham, and four weekly rotations from Galway to Bristol and Sligo to Manchester.
Galway to Newcastle will start on 25 June, while the airline is also stepping up frequencies on existing Waterford flights to Luton and Manchester.
Aer Arann head of sales and marketing, Colin Lewis (pictured right), is enthusiastic regarding the new developments: ”The routes represent further significant expansion for Aer Arann in the UK market and will provide easy access to these major UK cities and a greater choice for business and leisure passengers in their region. We look forward to working with regional airports to develop these services,” he said.
Irish minister for transport, Martin Cullen, was also present at Waterford Airport to launch the Birmingham service.
”The new service to Birmingham, together with the increased frequencies on two of Aer Arann”s existing routes and its decision to establish a base at Waterford underscores the company”s commitment to Waterford and the South East (of Ireland),” he said.
”I am encouraged by the airport”s conviction that it will meet its target of more than 300,000 passengers by 2010. Expansion at Waterford Airport creates a direct gateway to important markets. The introduction of new routes has increased capacity to the UK and Europe, opens up the regions for further tourism and business traffic and provides new opportunities for development and growth.”
Aer Arann was established in the 1970s by Padraig O”Ceidigh, its owner and still very much executive chairman. It currently operates a fleet of two 50-seat ATR 42s and 12 60-seat ATR 72s. In 2006 Aer Arann carried 1.1m passengers, a figure set to grow significantly this year with, by this summer, some 40 routes operating to 25 destinations. More new ATRs are due, some to replace leased-in aircraft.
Lewis reckons that 35% of passengers are business people: ”We are expanding but what we are also doing is tweaking routes,” he said. ”Much emphasis is being placed on corporate travel and also niche routes not suitable for Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 operations. Small offerings such as assigned seats and free newspapers help to make flying on Aer Arann a pleasure.”