Media Archive

FIRST AER ARANN FLIGHT TO LONDON SOUTHEND

TAKES TO THE SKIES FROM GALWAY

London Has Never Been Closer

(Sunday, 27^th March 2011) Galway and the West of Ireland business and tourism received a welcome boost today, as Aer Arann's first flight to London Southend took to the skies from Galway Airport.

Today's flight from Galway was among the first to be operated into London Southend Airport by an Irish commercial airline.

To mark the celebrations, passengers travelling on the first flights from Galway Airport enjoyed a complimentary breakfast reception in the departure area prior to boarding.

From today, 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.

Welcoming the introduction of the first flight from Waterford to London Southend, Aer Arann Chief Executive, Paul Schütz today said, "The launch of today's inaugural flights mark a significant milestone for Aer Arann and together with London Southend Airport we are delighted to provide business and leisure customers with new connections between Ireland and the UK".

"Our new services provide Irish customers with unique, hassle-free convenience and direct access to central London. Likewise UK customers will have Ireland on their doorstep with direct access to Waterford and Galway. We welcome the ongoing development of London Southend Airport and we look forward to providing passengers with potentially excellent onward connections to Europe," he continued 

Alastair Welch, Managing Director of London Southend Airport said, "We're very pleased to welcome Aer Arann to London Southend at this very exciting time in our redevelopment. Visiting passengers will be able to take advantage of the attractions on offer in Southend as well as the excellent access the airport offers into London. In return our local residents will now have easy access to the city of Galway, the cultural heart of Ireland on the West coast whilst local businesses can take advantage of the regular conveniently timed flights. We look forward to further route announcements from London Southend in the coming months."

Joe Walsh, Managing Director of Galway Airport said, "We are delighted with Aer Arann's first flight to Southend this morning, as Aer Arann commences it's second service from Galway and the West region to London. We currently service the London market via Luton Airport and today's start up of this new service will enable us to provide additional access to London via Southend Airport.

We look forward to welcoming inbound passengers from Southend over the coming months who will avail of this new additional London route and we wish Aer Arann and London Southend Airport every success with their new service to and from the West of Ireland."

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 quick and easy transfers with none of the time consuming hassle that is unavoidable when travelling through London's major airports.

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.

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. 

Although the opening of London Southend Airport's new train station has been delayed by a few days awaiting regulatory approval, free shuttle buses will transport arriving passengers to the nearby Rochford train station just five minutes from the airport.

The Aer Arann summer schedule also commenced today which will see an increase in flights between Galway and Waterford. The two cities will be linked seven days a week with ten flights on this increasingly popular domestic route.

Aer Arann flights to London Southend are available for booking on www.aerarann.com. With fares starting at just €39.99 one way including taxes.

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                                                  

About Aer Arann:

Aer Arann is Ireland's regional airline, operating almost 656 flights per week across 38 routes throughout Ireland, 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.