New route announced

Ireland West Airport Knock are pleased to announce today, 21^st November 2005, that the low fares airline bmibaby will operate a new direct route to Durham Tees Valley Airport in North East England and increase to twice daily its flights to its existing Manchester and Birmingham routes. The new Durham Tees Valley route, which will commence in March 2006, will provide holidaymakers and businesses in the West and North West of Ireland with direct convenient access to the entire north east area of England as currently no other airline flies to this region from the entire West coast. The increased flights to Manchester and Birmingham will be in operation for the peak travel period of summer 2006.

Liam Scollan, managing director of Ireland West Airport Knock, says: “The additional flight services which bmibaby and our team have put in place, is another step towards achieving our goal of providing a comprehensive range of flights into the UK. It further demonstrates our commitment to growing the airport and to meeting the market demand that exists in the region for fast, competitively priced and convenient travel. It not only means more travel choices for our traveling public but that the West and North West region will benefit from an additional 50,000 bed nights and over €4 million worth of tourism spend from passengers traveling into the region on these flights. Clearly the popularity and excellent performance of bmibaby’s existing Birmingham and Manchester routes have lead the way to increasing the number of flights to these city destinations as well.”

David Bryon, managing director, bmibaby, says that he is delighted to announce more new routes with bmibaby from Ireland West Airport Knock stating that: “The introduction of services next summer to Durham Tees Valley Airport, in the Northeast of England demonstrates our commitment to developing new routes and services to and from the west of Ireland. Fares are very competitive, starting from just €31.98 one way, including taxes and charges. Seats are on sale now and our advice to passengers is to book early to get the best fare."

Direct access to a superb holiday destination and a centre of economic activity

Durham Tees Valley Airport, located in the university city of Durham, is within a half an hour’s reach by rail to Newcastle, Middlesbrough and the city of York. From a holidaymaker’s perspective, the new route offers low cost travel to ‘Captain Cook Country’ and to well renowned scenic areas like the North Yorkshire Moors and the Yorkshire Dales -areas famed as ‘Herriot Country’ and the home of the popular TV soap ‘Emmerdale Farm’. Newcastle’s giant ‘Metro Centre’ shopping centre and lively ‘Quayside’ night life will make for an entertaining weekend break, whilst soccer fans from the West can now experience live premiership football matches at Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Sunderland stadiums.

In addition, the North East of England is one of the principal centres of economic activity in the UK being host to over 500 leading global companies in the areas of digital technology, life sciences, healthcare and renewable energy. Liam Scollan says: “I believe that it is not just holidaymakers who will utilise this service but it opens up excellent business opportunities for people working in industry and commerce also. England’s North East region, with a market population of 2.6 million people, has particular synergies with our own healthcare, engineering, science and technology industries so our new route should help stimulate increased economic activity for companies operating in these sectors.”

The Durham Tees Valley route will be operated by bmibaby four times weekly i.e. on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, commencing on the 28^th March 2006. For the summer months there will be additional Birmingham flights operating on Monday through to Thursday each week and there will be an extra flight on Saturday which will commence in March. The additional Manchester flights will operate on Monday and Thursday for the summer period also. These routes compliment Ireland West Airport Knock’s other daily scheduled flights to the UK which include London’s Gatwick, Stansted and Luton airports. For further information on these flights as well as other European charter holiday and city break destinations, telephone Ireland West Airport Knock at 094 936 8100 or visit the website www.irelandwestairport.com. To book flight tickets direct with bmibaby you can telephone their reservation staff at tel. 1890 340 122 or visit their website at www.bmibaby.com.

UK destinations from Knock