Tánaiste Welcomes Announcement of New All-Island Air Services

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Harney TD, has welcomed the report published today (Tuesday 29^th April 2003) by InterTradeIreland, the North/South Trade and Business Development Agency, on "Developing All-Island Air Services on the Island of Ireland".

The Tánaiste said she was delighted to see that this development process has already started with the announcement yesterday that Jetmagic has commenced a new air service between Belfast/Cork and by today's announcement from Aer Arann that is plans to introduce a Belfast/Dublin service in the very near future.

Welcoming these new developments, the Tánaiste said "today, more than ever before, speed of communication and ease of transport are crucial success factors for business. At a time when much of the, as yet, untapped potential to expand trade, business and tourism on the North/South axis in Ireland is now being actively exploited, it is most gratifying to see the private sector responding to the emerging needs and opportunities in the area of fast access public transport service provision".

"These new Jetmagic and Aer Arann cross-border air services should prove to be a significant boost to business and tourism development within the island. I would hope and expect that they will be utilised to maximum effect by the business and tourism communities and by the general travelling public, she added."

The InterTradeIreland report presents, on the basis of careful research and extensive consultation with interested players in the business, tourism and airline sectors, the case for viable North/South air connections, especially between Belfast and Dublin/Cork/Shannon. It does so in the context of an urgent need to fill a real gap which currently exists in the range of quality transport services to meet ever-increasing North/South business-related and tourism-related travel requirements. The Jetmagic and Aer Arann developments reflect the potential and latent demand identified in the report for air connections between Belfast and various locations in the South.

The Tánaiste congratulated InterTradeIreland on its foresight in pursuing its all-island air services initiative in response to a clear industry-driven demand. The findings in its report, she noted, were vindicated by the decisions of Jetmagic and Aer Arann to introduce new cross-border air services.

ENDS