Castlebar - County Mayo - Knock to Gatwick Commences

Ireland West Airport Knock welcomed the return of Aer Lingus to the Airport. Aer Lingus daily London Gatwick service commenced on Monday 6th April 2009 from the airline’s new international base in the London airport. The new flights will provide the West and North West region of Ireland with easy access to central London and the south east UK counties as well as interlining capabilities connecting business interests and tourism traffic in both directions to seven European destinations on the Aer Lingus network, including Malaga, Faro, Munich, Nice, Vienna, Zurich and Dublin. The new service increases the number of available seat connections to London via Ireland West Knock to over 1,200 seats per day this summer and is expected to generate an additional 100,000 passengers using the Airport annually.

Additional €12 million Annual Tourism Spend Injection to Western Economy

Aer Lingus commenced its daily service to London Gatwick, the tenth busiest airport in the world, using an Airbus A320 aircraft configured to 174 seats. This new service will provide travellers into, and out of, the West and North West of Ireland with inward and onward connections available through London Gatwick Airport from 220 destinations globally. It is estimated that the region will benefit from an increase of around 35,000 tourists which is expected to inject almost €12 million in tourism spend and almost 200,000 bednights into the Western regional economy annually.

Welcoming Aer Lingus, Liam Scollan, Chairman of Ireland West Airport Knock, said: "On behalf of the Airport team, I extend our welcome to Aer Lingus and wish it every success on the London Gatwick route. This new route alone will bring an additional 127,000 seats per annum connecting our region to the UK and it underlines the growing economic importance of the Airport to the wider region as our flight services are expected to support a substantial tourism spend of €70 million in 2009. The further significance of this new venture is that Aer Lingus now provides passengers from the region, and from around the globe, with the potential to interline to and from Ireland West Airport Knock with its code share partners which include British Airways, KLM Virgin Atlantic and United Airlines. This is a huge boost for all concerned and I encourage the tourism and business organisations and the public to rally behind this latest opportunity for the West."

Commenting at the inaugural flight event, Enda Corneille, Director of Corporate Affairs, Aer Lingus, said: "We are delighted to launch our new daily service between Ireland West Knock Airport and London Gatwick, on the first day of the opening of our new international base at Gatwick. This new service will provide a gateway from the West of Ireland to the UK and Europe with London Gatwick offering a wide range of international connections. The new route will drive growth in both inbound and outbound tourism and will support the many business links between the region and the greater London area. We look forward to extending our low fares and quality service offering to a whole new range of customers."

London Gatwick Connection

London Gatwick is the busiest single runway airport in the world, the second largest airport in the UK and the seventh busiest international airport in the world. Around 90 airlines operate from Gatwick's two terminals, serving over 220 destinations. Owned by BAA, London Gatwick serves 32.5 million passengers annually with its future development strategy focusing on expanding as a single-runway, two-terminal airport, as it grows to handle around 40 million passengers a year by 2010/2011. Gatwick provides easy access to London Central and South London areas as well as to the southern counties of West and South Sussex. There are bus and rail links from Gatwick including the Gatwick Express www.gatwickexpress.com which takes passengers to London within 30 minutes. Gatwick serves a catchment of 12 million and also provides easy access to South Britain tourism attractions such as the vibrant City of Brighton and many other seaside resorts on the South Coast.

Introductory Fares from just €24.99!

Ireland West Knock – London Gatwick flight times depart from Gatwick at 13:05 arriving into Ireland West Knock at 14:40. Flights depart Ireland West Knock at 15:15, arriving into Gatwick at 16:50. For more information on fares and schedules and to book flights between London Gatwick and Ireland West Knock, log on to www.aerlingus.com or call Aer Lingus reservations at IRL: 0818 365000; N. IRL: 0870 8765000; or UK: 0870 8765000; or book through your local travel agent. Special introductory fares start from €24.99 one-way including taxes and charges!