Galway Advertiser

Costa del Sol, Paris, and London are the three first scheduled jet destinations which will be offered from Galway Airport from April.

Euromanx, the Isle of Man based airline will commence the jet flights on April 18 as part of a strategic programme to eventually service many popular and much sought after European sun, ski, and short stay city break destinations.

Initially the airline will operate up to two daily services to London city, a direct service to Paris, Charles de Gaulle, and Malaga Spain. Both routes will be operated by an 82 seat Avro RJ 70, four engine jet aircraft. The service to Paris will run on Mondays and Fridays while the Malaga service will operate on Sundays and Wednesdays.

The service to London City Airport offers business and leisure passengers the ability to fly directly from Galway in just over one hour.

The schedule has been designed to accommodate corporate passengers, offering an early morning departure and an evening return, allowing a full business day in London without having to overnight.

"We intend to deliver a punctual, reliable, and affordable service with high levels of cabin comfort and warm hospitality," said EuroManx CEO Warren Seymour. "The addition of a direct service to Malaga from Galway offers passengers the unique ability to avail of a twice weekly scheduled jet air service to one of the most sought after sun destinations in Europe, on the Costa del Sol."

As the aircraft will be Galway based, the announcement is also a jobs boost for the region as the company intends to base a full aircraft support team and sales crew in Galway.

Galway Airport chairman Joe Higgins said the investment in the runway overlay and new navigational equipment installed last November has directly enabled Galway Airport to market to jet airline operators.

"It is very pleasing to see such an early positive result," he said. "This is a fantastic boost for business and tourism in Galway and the west of Ireland offering an additional 120,000 seats."

Also welcoming the news was Galway Chamber CEO Michael Coyle on behalf of Galway Chamber: "One of the most exciting aspects of the direct service to Malaga is that is creates the potential for Galway to access a wide range of European destinations within a three hour flight time. I'm very confident that the business community will strongly support these new services," he said.

Euromanx will publish a full schedule including fares to these exciting new destinations from Galway in the coming weeks.

Bookings can be made at www.euromanx.com or through local travels agent once the schedule has been published.