Tag Archives: Ryanair

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Transport Timmy Dooley has questioned whether the Labour Party was ever taking seriously the concerns around the possible sale of the State’s shareholding in Aer Lingus after it was indicated the Cabinet would only make its decision when it knew the intentions of Ryanair. Deputy Dooley said the comments attributed to Tánaiste Joan Burton “exposed the lack of genuine concern within the Labour Party about maintaining a strategic national interest in Aer Lingus.” Deputy Dooley said, “It is very disappointing to hear that Labour and the Cabinet are prepared to take their cue on Aer Lingus from Ryanair. Not only is Ryanair a competitor of Aer Lingus it is a major shareholder and will make its decisions based on commercial interest not national interest. The Labour Party should be making its decisions as part of the Government in the long-term interests of the country and shouldn’t be waiting to a get a steer on what direction it should go from Ryanair. “The …

A very merry Christmas, with an anticipated 15% increase in passenger numbers from 12 months ago, kicked off at Shannon Airport at the weekend, as 2,000 children and parents got to meet Santa in the skies. In an initiative to thank the public for its support over what has been a year of strong growth, as well as raise some much needed funds for two local charities, Shannon Airport, in partnership with Ryanair, made Christmas come early for the excited children as 12 flights took the skies over Saturday and Sunday. Among those getting to savour this special moment were special needs children from the Clare Crusaders Clinic, St Gabriel’s School in Limerick and Mirmear Autism Unit in Tipperary. Demand for the ‘free flights’, the booking fee for which goes to charity, was so high that they booked out in all of 12 minutes, when they went up for grabs two weeks ago. The airport is readying itself for its …

 Christmas came early for a Ryanair passenger and his family today as Michael O’Leary turned up in person to congratulate them for becoming the airline’s 13th million passenger at Shannon Airport.    The Ryanair CEO surprised Piotr Rachuta, who was travelling back to Poland on the Shannon-Wroclaw flight with his wife Marta and 4year old daughter Amelia, by announcing him on the airport tannoy as the lucky 13th million passenger. “I didn’t expect this today when I came to Shannon Airport for sure.  I am very surprised and very happy,” a beaming Mr Rachuta said after he was approached by Mr O’Leary and presented with a free return Ryanair flight and overnight accommodation for his family.  http://youtu.be/_Jgz96EYI8Y

Ryanair’s announcement of a new flight from Manchester to Shannon Airport this winter, which will help boost tourism to Co Clare and the West of Ireland from the all-important British market, according to Tourism Ireland. Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “Today’s announcement is more good news for tourism to the West of Ireland this year. We already work very closely with Ryanair and we look forward to co-operating with them to maximise the promotion of this new flight to Shannon. As an island, the importance of convenient, direct, non-stop flights cannot be overstated – they are absolutely critical to achieving growth in visitor numbers.” Britain is the largest single market for tourism to the island of Ireland; last year, we welcomed approximately 3.8 million British visitors, who contributed some €1.2 billion in revenue to the economy. Niall Gibbons continued: “Great Britain is the largest market for tourism to Ireland and we are really pleased to see strong growth …

Ryanair  it is to strengthen its winter schedule from Shannon Airport with the addition of further capacity from the end of October. The airline announced  that it is to add a daily Manchester service, replacing a three times weekly Liverpool service, and a weekly Kaunas (Lithuania) flight, as well as extra flights on Stansted, to its winter schedule, starting the end of October. This will bring the total number of Ryanair services from Shannon to 11 this winter – six more than the 2013/2014 winter season. The new routes operated by Ryanair from Shannon this winter are Paris, Berlin, Fuerteventura, Warsaw, Krakow, Manchester and Kaunas.  These are in addition to their existing services to be Gatwick, Lanzarote, Stansted and Wroclaw. Speaking at the King John’s Castle visitor attraction this Thursday where the announcement was made, Shannon Airport CEO Neil Pakey said, “We welcome this further commitment by Ryanair to our upcoming winter schedule, which includes an excellent mix of inbound …

SHANNON Airport enjoyed a great first half of 2014 with 16 service enhancements, including nine new Ryanair routes for the summer season, resulting in a 15% increase in terminal passenger numbers, latest figures show. A break down of figures revealed at Shannon Airport-Ryanair Travel Clinic in Bunratty to promote the airline’s winter schedule, complete with five additional services on last year’s schedule, showed that passenger numbers on European routes have enjoyed a 54% uplift in the first half of the year. Overall terminal passenger numbers through Shannon in the first half of the year were 653,894, up from 568,133 in the same period in 2013. As well as European figures improving, there was a five per cent increase in the number of Shannon-UK passengers while transatlantic numbers were up by 11%. Shannon Airport Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Murphy said; “We are really happy with the passenger numbers so far this year. We worked hard with our airline partners to secure …

Ryanair’s announcement this Wednesday that it is to add five routes onto its winter schedule at Shannon has been welcomed as another significant boost for the airport. Shannon Airport’s  winter schedule, which starts at the end of October, will see Ryanair retain its new Paris, Berlin, Fuerteventura, Warsaw and Krakow routes, all of which commenced in April. In all, Ryanair will operate 10 routes this winter, five more than last year. The other routes operated by the airline across the winter schedule will be Gatwick, Lanzarote, Liverpool, Stansted and Wroclaw. Shannon Airport CEO, Neil Pakey said, “This is a very important commitment by Ryanair to its Shannon schedule. We are already experiencing a significant upswing in summer passenger numbers thanks to the airline’s nine new routes, which started at the beginning of April. “A major objective of ours after securing those new summer services was to bolster the winter season and this is a significant move in that regard.” Also welcoming …

SHANNON Airport is in major growth mode this week, as nine new routes commence in five days, delivering a  boost for tourism and business interests. 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. The 2014 summer season, which officially begins in April, will see 16 service enhancements at Shannon, including the nine new routes.  Among the enhanced services is the now year-round Aer Lingus New York service, which began on Sunday.  This will be a six times weekly service and is the first time Aer Lingus will have operated year-round 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. Not since 2005 has Shannon had a week like this in terms of new …