New Routes for Knock

Knock's New Routes for a Growing Region

Jim Higgins MEP for Ireland North West has today welcomed the decision by Ryanair to expand its services at Knock Airport.

Mr Higgins, who is Ireland's Member of the European Parliament Transport and Tourism Committee, said "This is a major shot in the arm for tourism in the region. Tourism has changed in recent years, and people are taking more and more weekend breaks. This means that tourists are tending to stay more in the Dublin area due to the Dublin Airport service. This new capacity at Knock means that people can come to the west more easily to avail of weekend breaks."

The services from France, Germany and Italy in particular will provide over 45,000 inbound seats for new visitors to the region with the potential of generating an associated tourism spend of over €23m for the local economy.

"Connectivity with Europe is key for the North West. Tourism is a vital sector in the economy and I am sure today's news will go some way towards ensuring a very successful tourist season in the North West in 2012" added the Fine Gael MEP.

This announcement marks another chapter in the airport’s relationship and development with Ryanair as it expands our route network to 14 scheduled destinations across the UK and to the key European markets of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

ENDS

Note to Editor:

Starting March 27th 2012  flights from Ireland West Airport Knock to Paris (Beauvais), Frankfurt (Hahn) and Barcelona (Girona) will depart every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, with flights to Milan (Bergamo) starting on March 25th 2012 and operating every Wednesday and Sunday.