*Pictured L-R Joe Carey TD, Brendan Griffin, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport with special responsibility for Tourism and Sport, Andrew Murphy, Managing Director Shannon Airport, Pat Breen, Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection and Caroline Kelleher, Director of Public Affairs, Shannon Group. Pic Arthur Ellis.
Shannon Airport is to have its first ever scheduled service to Vienna from next year in what will also mark Lauda’s debut operating from Shannon.
On Wednesday afternoon, Shannon Group confirmed the twice weekly Shannon to Vienna service would take flight in March 2020. Managing Director of Shannon Airport, Andrew Murphy described it as “very positive news for Shannon”.
“Not alone do we get a scheduled service to one of Europe’s most visited cities and a strong inbound market for tourists to Ireland, but we are also getting a new carrier on the runway here as well. We have been working closely with Lauda and their parent Ryanair, to deliver this service and are looking forward to the airline commencing operation in the New Year. This will be the first summer service connecting Austrian holidaymakers directly to the Wild Atlantic Way, and as such provides an opportunity to attract more visitors to this breathtakingly beautiful part of Ireland,” Murphy added.
He maintained Lauda’s decision to start a service from Shannon was “a vote of confidence in the region by the airline and will deepen Shannon’s impact on tourism in the region. We are delighted to have Vienna on our summer schedule for 2020, a service that will boost business for our tourism industry along the Wild Atlantic Way. We look forward to working closely with Lauda to make the new service a success.”
Lauda CEO, Andreas Gruber said they were pleased to launch the new route. “Customers in Shannon can now book flights to Vienna as far out as October 2020 flying on the lowest fares and with the greenest/cleanest airline group in Europe, with the lowest CO2 emissions.”
Flying on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the new service was secured with the assistance of Tourism Ireland and the increased route development fund for regional airports announced in Budget 2020 is a significant factor.
Commenting on the announcement, Brendan Griffin TD, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport said: “I am very pleased with this announcement today and it is great to see that regions are already seeing dividends from the Government’s decision to increase marketing funds for regional airports.”
Newly appointed Shannon Group CEO, Mary Considine outlined that providing airline services to the region allowed the commercial semi-state company remain “an important driver of economic activity”. She said, “Securing this so soon after the announcement of the Budget 2020 increased Tourism Ireland route develop fund shows what can be achieved through this type of partnership and we thank Tourism Ireland for its continued support.”
