Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Patrick O’Donovan TD has welcomed the addition of new transatlantic services from Cork and Shannon this summer.
“This announcement from Norwegian Air International (NAI) is a significant and welcome development in the transatlantic aviation market and will further assist tourism growth in the Mid and South West,” the Minister said.
“With another new carrier to Shannon, we now see the Airport with its largest number of US services in over 17 years, this is very significant for Shannon and for the wider region it serves, from both a jobs and tourism perspective, and contributes to the government’s objectives on balanced regional development.
“The new services will also be the first scheduled transatlantic flights for Cork, and will bring a welcome boost to the region. The government and in particular the Taoiseach, along with a range of State agencies, have been very supportive of NAI’s plans and we all welcome that the airline is now in a position to commence services,” Minister O’Donovan concluded.
Irish tourism had a record breaking year in 2016, particularly from North America which increased by 19.4% compared to 2015 figures. Shannon Airport sawstrong growth with a 24% increase in passenger numbers. After a number of years of decline, passenger numbers at Cork Airport grew by 8% to more than 2.23 million last year.
