Tourism
Norwegian Air Shannon services start to Orange County and Rhode Island
Pictured: Maria O’Gorman Skelly, Strand Hotel Limerick, Senator Kieran O’Donnell, Cllr Marian Hurley, Deputy Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, ‘Uncle Sam’ Aidan Fox from Shannon, Andrew Murphy, MD, Shannon Airport, and Anita Higgins, Adare Manor pictured at Norwegian Air Shannon launch. Photo: Diarmuid Greene / True Media
Norwegian Air Shannon services start to Orange County and Rhode Island
The first ever services from Shannon to the US East Coast airports of Stewart International in Orange County and Providence, Rhode Island have begun by Norwegian Air International.
The new Norwegian Air Shannon services give Shannon its largest number of transatlantic destinations for 17 years. The new services will bring a huge boost for tourism from the North West down to Cork, delivering additional services from the largest yielding market in terms of visitor spend in Ireland. The new services will mean that five airlines, seven destinations and eight services are now on the line up to the USA from Shannon Airport.
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This new service will provide an additional transatlantic capacity this year of 40,000 seats, with 80,000 across 2018 when the flights operate year round for the first time. This will bring transatlantic capacity at Shannon next year to over 550,000 seats.
Pictured are, from left, siblings Erica (11), Rhea (8), and Cian Murphy (10) from Castletroy, Limerick, with Andrew Murphy, MD, Shannon Airport, left, Tore Jenssen, CEO, Norwegian Air International, right, and ‘Uncle Sam’ Aidan Fox from Shannon. Photo: Diarmuid Greene / True Media
Commenting on the importance of the two new US/Shannon services, Mary Considine, Deputy CEO of Shannon Group, which owns and operates Shannon Airport, said: “Shannon Airport is proud to welcome Norwegian Air International to Shannon. The launch of these two new US destinations is another major milestone for our passengers. The new services open up exciting opportunities for Irish people to explore amazing parts of the States and for US visitors to explore our Wild Atlantic Way. We look forward to working closely with Norwegian to ensure the success of the services, which we are confident will pave the way for many more great things to come.”
Norwegian CEO Bjorn Kjos said: “The launch of these new transatlantic flights is a significant milestone for Norwegian, Shannon Airport and most of all passengers who now have more choice and lower fares for travel to the USA. We are grateful for the huge support from across Ireland over the last three years and we are delighted to see everyone’s hard work pay-off as our first transatlantic flights take to the skies this weekend.”
Said Shannon Airport Managing Director Andrew Murphy: “We are delighted to have eight services to seven airports on the US east coast. This illustrates the huge market there is for the unique Irish tourism product on this side of the island. To have a new operator select Shannon for two destinations as it begins operations in Ireland speaks volumes, too, about Shannon’s significance in the transatlantic market.
“Stewart International Airport and Providence Green Airport give us access to two very interesting and exciting locations so these services offer opportunity beyond inbound. Stewart is the access airport for Orange County, which is just 90 minutes from New York. It is in the hugely popular Hudson Valley and has year round activities from water sports to skiing. Rhode Island, on the other hand, is approximately the same distance from Boston, and is also a very popular tourist destination in its own right, with fantastic ocean drives, historical sites, museums and wineries. We would urge the public and tourism interests to support them and explore what are exciting new opportunities.”
For more on Norwegian Air Shannon services click here
For more on Shannon Airport services click here
