News Archive

Major boost for tourism and business connectivity in the West and North West as Ryanair announces major European expansion from Ireland West Airport Knock

Ireland West Airport Knock are delighted to announce a major boost for the West of Ireland with the news that Ryanair will commence four new direct services from  Barcelona, Frankfurt , Milan and Paris starting in March 2012.  This announcement represents a significant milestone for the airport and western region as it provides scheduled direct air access for the first time to the important mainland European markets of France, Germany and Italy.

The new services will provide significant inbound air access for tourists from these markets wishing to visit the West and North West of Ireland, who before this could not get direct flights into the region whilst providing critical access for both outbound business and leisure travellers from the West and North West  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.

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.

Commenting on the announcement, Michael O Leary, CEO, Ryanair said “.Ireland West Airport Knock today celebrates 4 new Ryanair routes in summer 2012 to Barcelona, Frankfurt, Milan and Paris, taking Ryanair’s routes at Ireland West Airport Knock to 14, which will deliver over 500,000 passengers and sustain more than 500 jobs in the region next summer.  To celebrate our 14 routes from Ireland West Knock, Ryanair is releasing 1 million seats with fares from €9.99 for travel across Europe in Jan.  Since seats at these crazy low prices will be snapped up quickly, we urge passengers to book them immediately on www.ryanair.com.””

Joe Gilmore, Managing Director Ireland West Airport Knock added “We are absolutely delighted to welcome these new services from four of Europe’s biggest markets with Ryanair which will deliver airline capacity in excess of 100k inbound/outbound seats providing low cost direct access for European tourists to the beautiful west coast of Ireland providing a major boost for tourism in this region. We wish to acknowledge the support of Government through it’s agencies and political representatives in ensuring these important services were put in place, and in particular Minister Ring and Niall Gibbons, CEO Tourism Ireland, deserve special mention.  Furthermore we hope these new services will attract the full support of all in the region as they will require even greater effort on all our behalf’s to ensure they are a success and are maintained for the longer term’

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.
For further airport information log onto www.irelandwestairport.com; and for information on fares and to book flights log onto www.ryanair.com.

To view pictures from the day click here