Media Archive

AER ARANN OPENS

NEW GATEWAY TO LONDON

(Monday, 31^st January 2011) Aer Arann, Ireland's regional airline, today announced new direct scheduled services between Waterford and Galway and London Southend Airport, marking the opening of Ireland's new gateway to central London and the English south east. 

From March Aer Arann will fly twice a day into London Southend Airport offering excellent access to central London and unrivalled convenience for business and leisure passengers.

There will be two return flights each day, morning and evening, between Galway and London Southend with direct flights on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. On the other three days each week flights will operate via Waterford.

The new services, beginning on March 27^th, will be the first to be operated into London Southend Airport by an Irish commercial airline and will operate in addition to Aer Arann's Galway and Waterford to London-Luton services under a revised schedule.

Aer Arann flights between Galway and London Luton will continue four days each week with lunchtime departures on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Flights between Galway and London Luton will operate via Waterford and with flights to London Southend Airport operating via Waterford on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays Galway will now have a seven days domestic service with ten services a week to and from Waterford. 

With its new direct rail link and speedy and frequent train services, London Southend Airport is Ireland's new London gateway with a unique service offering that cannot be matched by major London airports.

 10 Minutes From Plane to Train with Cabin Baggage

• 8 Trains Per Hour at Peak Times
• 50 Minutes to Central London
  
  

With morning and evening flights between Galway and London Southend Airport, Aer Arann is offering a new competitive choice for the day return or short stay business passenger and the longer stay leisure passenger. Both will benefit from a quick and easy transfer from flight to train with none of the time consuming hassle that is unavoidable when travelling through London's major airports.

• Train Direct from London Southend to Liverpool Street - the same station served by the Stansted Express
  
  
• Faster Journey Time Through London Southend Airport
  
  
• Faster Overall Transfer Time to Central London - Train Journey Time Similar to Gatwick and Stansted services and Tube from Heathrow
  
  
• More Trains Per Hour in Peak Times When Flights Arrive
  
  
• Only 20 minutes from Plane to Train with Checked Baggage
  
  

In addition to fast and convenient transfer times to central London, passengers will not experience the long take off queues or the delay and hold patterns commonplace on approach to London's major airports. 

The new routes between Ireland and London Southend Airport are expected to boost both business and tourism travel between the UK and both Galway and Waterford. The two new flights per day open new links from Southend, Essex and the greater London area to Ireland's regions offering fast, convenient and cost effective travel that will provide a timely boost to the local economies.

Commenting on the announcement Aer Arann, Chief Executive, Paul Schütz said, "This is a very significant announcement for Aer Arann and we are delighted to team up with London Southend Airport to provide our customers with new flights between Ireland and the UK and particularly with central London".

"We are confident there will be strong demand for these services and that our Galway customers will be very pleased when they experience the unique convenience and direct access to central London. Likewise UK customers will have Ireland on their doorstep with direct access to Galway and Waterford and we look forward to the ongoing development of London Southend Airport and its potential to provide passengers from Ireland with excellent onward connections to Europe", Mr. Schütz continued.

Alastair Welch, Managing Director Stobart Air and London Southend Airport commented "Aer Arann's announcement today marks a significant milestone in the development of London Southend Airport.  2011 is a very big year for us with a new railway station and control tower now complete, and a new passenger terminal, runway extension and airport hotel also underway".

"This is the year London Southend Airport goes on the international air travel map as a fast, friendly and hassle free new gateway to London and beyond.  With our new train station the journey from the airport into Liverpool Street - in the heart of the City of London - will take around 50 minutes".

Welcoming today's announcement, Joe Walsh, Managing Director of Galway Airport said, "We are delighted that Aer Arann has added a second new service from Galway and the West region to London. We currently service the London market via Luton Airport and today's news will enable us to provide additional access to London with the addition of Southend Airport as a new access airport to London.

We look forward to welcoming passengers availing of this new additional London route from March 2011 and we wish Aer Arann and London Southend Airport every success with their new service to and from the West of Ireland."

Stobart Group invested €2.5 million in 2010 to develop the partnership with Aer Arann as part of a five-year agreement between the Group's Stobart Air division and the Irish airline. The agreement involves the development of domestic and Irish routes in and out of London Southend Airport and airfreight opportunities arising from the partnership. Day-to-day management of the airline remains with Aer Arann, with Stobart Group representation on the Board of Directors.

Stobart Group CEO, Andrew Tinkler, said: "This concludes phase one of our development of London Southend Airport, with the fast introduction of new daily services and greater passenger volumes just weeks after our operating agreement with Aer Arann was announced. We stated then that the primary goal for Stobart was the acceleration of our development plans for London Southend, and today's announcement demonstrates just that - an excellent New Year kick-start for the airport, with more to come in 2011."

In addition to central London Aer Arann's London Southend Airport service also provides leisure passengers with direct access to Southend-on-sea. With seven glorious miles of seafront, the longest pleasure pier in the world and a host of exciting events and festivals throughout the route offers a new holiday destination from Ireland's west and south east.  

Aer Arann flights to London Southend go on sale from today, 31 January and can be booked on www.aerarann.com. With fares starting at just €39.99 one way including taxes.

For timetable, click here 

For further information:

Aer Arann:

Andrew Kelly 
Aer Arann
Tel:      +353 1 844 7733 
M:        +353 85 711 7711
Email: andrew.kelly@aerarann.com
                                                          

Aoife Donohoe
Aer Arann
Tel:      +353 1 844 7788
M:        +353 87 77 33344
Email: aoife.donohoe@aerarann.com

London Southend Airport:

Tracy Jones
Tel:      +44 1702 390348
M:        +44 7887 514984
Email: tracy@brera-london.com                                                                   

James Andrew                                          
Tel:      +44 207 287 9610                                           
M:        +44 7772 534 985
Email: james@influenceltd.com

 

Notes to the editor:

About Aer Arann:

Aer Arann is Ireland's regional airline, operating almost 600 flights per week across 37 routes throughout Ireland (/// note 38 routes from May, 656 flights per week), the UK and France under its own brand and as Aer Lingus Regional under a franchise agreement with Aer Lingus. The airline's fleet currently consists of four ATR 42s and nine ATR 72s. With headquarters located in Dublin, the airline is renowned for its customer service and has 4 bases under its own brand in Dublin, Galway, Waterford, and the Isle of Man. It also has bases under the Aer Lingus Regional brand in Dublin, Cork and Shannon. For further information visit www.aerarann.com.

 

About  London Southend

London Southend Airport is a long-established regional airport for South East Essex and is the Eastern Gateway to London. A new airport railway station providing fast and frequent train services direct to Stratford (for Docklands and Canary Wharf) and to central London's Liverpool Street Station will provide its passengers with faster door-to-door times inbound to London than most other London airports - and at lower costs. Southend Airport is already "home base" to a wide range of aviation companies, airlines and operators, with more than 1300 people employed across the airport.

By extending the runway, London Southend Airport will be able to attract airlines operating commercial passenger services to a wide range of business and holiday destinations that cannot currently be served by the airport. The airport is predicting passenger growth to 2 million passengers per year by 2020.

Construction projects required to make London Southend this fully-functioning regional airport by 2012 are all on target to meet their completion dates.

Find out more at www.flysouthend2012.com

From March passenger flights will use the existing terminal at London Southend Airport with transfer facilities available to the train station. London Southend Airport's new passenger terminal is expected to open in October  2011 when passengers will access the train station with a two minute walk via a covered walkway.

www.southendairport.com.