RIVAL Irish airlines Ryanair and Aer Arann yesterday gave Liverpool John Lennon Airport a major lift. Three new routes were started by Ryanair, bringing to 20 the number of destinations by the operator from Speke. Meanwhile, Aer Arann announced it is launching, from April, a three-times-a-week link to Galway. Ryanair, now Europe's largest low fares airline, launched its new routes from Liverpool to Londonderry, Bergerac and Carcassonne. All three flights were virtually sold out. The Londonderry flight will be operated daily, with Bergerac and Carcassonne operating three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Neil Pakey, JLA's managing director, said: "We are delighted at the wide range of destinations that Ryanair now serves from Liverpool. An impressive 20 Ryanair routes are now available, bringing an increasing choice for both business and leisure travellers." Karl Hogstadius, Ryanair's deputy sales and marketing manager UK, said: "We have now started operations from Liverpool to Londonderry, Bergerac and Carcassonne. For the first three months of flying, we already have more than 20,000 bookings on the routes. "To celebrate our launch, Ryanair is lowering fares from Liverpool, and offering prices starting from just £3.49." Aer Arann, Ireland's premier regional airline, last night confirmed it will launch a new service from Liver0 pool John Lennon Airport to Galway in the west of Ireland for the summer season, effective from April 10. The Liverpool to Galway service will operate three days per week, Monday, Thursday and Friday departing Galway at 10.15am and Liverpool at 12.00 noon, with a flight time of one hour fifteen minutes. The service will be operated by a 66 seater ATR-72 aircraft. This latest announcement follows the recent decision by the airline to purchase ten new aircraft over the next three year period to support its route development strategy. Micheal O'Callarain, marketing manager at Aer Arann said "The announcement represents another important milestone in Aer Arann's growth and development and we are delighted to be expanding our UK operations for the summer season. "We believe the historical links between Liverpool and the West of Ireland will be strengthened by the introduction of this service and we look forward to working with both airports to develop this new route in the coming months." Mr Pakey added: "The airport has seen an increase in the number of services to both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland over the past 12 months and this new addition will further develop links between Merseyside and the important Irish market particularly for leisure travellers." larryneild@dailypost.co.uk | 
RSS News Feed