Aer Arann cabin crew Sarah Baggott and Kerry Crozier waving the Waterford, Galway and Essex colours at the launch of Aer Arann’s new direct routes from Galway and Waterford to London Southend

(Monday, January 31^st 2011) Aer Arann, Ireland’s regional airline, today announced new direct scheduled services between Waterford and Galway and London Southend Airport, marking the opening of Ireland’s new gateway to central London and the English south east.

From March Aer Arann will fly twice a day into London Southend Airport offering excellent access to central London and unrivalled convenience for business and leisure passengers.

With its new direct rail link and speedy and frequent train services, London Southend Airport is Ireland’s new London gateway with a unique service offering that cannot be matched by major London airports.

• 10 Minutes From Plane to Train with Cabin Baggage
• 8 Trains Per Hour at Peak Times
• 50 Minutes to Central London

With morning and evening flights between Galway and Waterford and London Southend Airport, Aer Arann is offering a new competitive choice for the day return or short stay business passenger and the longer stay leisure passenger. Both will benefit from a quick and easy transfer from flight to train with none of the time consuming hassle that is unavoidable when travelling through London’s major airports.

• Train Direct from London Southend to Liverpool Street – the same station served by the Stansted Express
• Faster Journey Time Through London Southend Airport
• Faster Overall Transfer Time to Central London – Train Journey Time Similar to Gatwick and Stansted services and Tube from Heathrow
• More Trains Per Hour in Peak Times When Flights Arrive
• Only 20 minutes from Plane to Train with Checked Baggage

In addition to fast and convenient transfer times to central London, passengers will not experience the long take off queues or the delay and hold patterns commonplace on approach to London’s major airports.

The new services will be the first to be operated into London Southend Airport by an Irish commercial airline and will operate in addition to Aer Arann’s Galway and Waterford to London-Luton services under a revised schedule. (See schedule below)

From March 27^th, Aer Arann will operate flights, twice a day, morning and evening, from both Galway and Waterford to London Southend Airport offering the fastest and most direct access from the two cities to central London.

Direct flights will operate twice daily seven days per week from Waterford.  Twice daily flights from Galway will operate direct four days per week and on three days a week will operate via Waterford.

Aer Arann will continue to fly four days a week direct from Waterford to London Luton and four days a week from Galway via Waterford to London Luton.

The new routes between Ireland and London Southend Airport are expected to boost both business and tourism travel between the UK and both Galway and Waterford. The two new flights per day open new links from Southend, Essex and the greater London area to Ireland’s regions offering fast, convenient and cost effective travel that will provide a timely boost to the local economies.

Commenting on the announcement Aer Arann, Chief Executive, Paul Schütz said, “This is a very significant announcement for Aer Arann and we are delighted to team up with London Southend Airport to provide our customers with new flights between Ireland and the UK and particularly with central London”.

“We are confident there will be strong demand for these services and that our customers will be very pleased when they experience the unique convenience and direct access to central London. Likewise UK customers will have Ireland on their doorstep with direct access to Galway and Waterford and we look forward to the ongoing development of London Southend Airport and its potential to provide passengers from Ireland with excellent onward connections to Europe”, Mr.Schütz continued.

Alastair Welch, Managing Director Stobart Air and London Southend Airport commented “Aer Arann’s announcement today marks a significant milestone in the development of London Southend Airport.  2011 is a very big year for us with a new railway station and control tower now complete, and a new passenger terminal, runway extension and airport hotel also underway”.

“This is the year London Southend Airport goes on the international air travel map as a fast, friendly and hassle free new gateway to London and beyond.  With our new train station the journey from the airport into Liverpool Street – in the heart of the City of London – will take around 50 minutes”.

Stobart Group invested €2.5 million in 2010 to develop the partnership with Aer Arann as part of a five-year agreement between the Group’s Stobart Air division and the Irish airline. The agreement involves the development of domestic and Irish routes in and out of London Southend Airport and airfreight opportunities arising from the partnership. Day-to-day management of the airline remains with Aer Arann, with Stobart Group representation on the Board of Directors.

Stobart Group CEO, Andrew Tinkler, said: “This concludes phase one of our development of London Southend Airport, with the fast introduction of new daily services and greater passenger volumes just weeks after our operating agreement with Aer Arann was announced. We stated then that the primary goal for Stobart was the acceleration of our development plans for London Southend, and today’s announcement demonstrates just that – an excellent New Year kick-start for the airport, with more to come in 2011.”

In addition to central London Aer Arann’s London Southend Airport service also provides leisure passengers with direct access to Southend-on-sea. With seven glorious miles of seafront, the longest pleasure pier in the world and a host of exciting events and festivals throughout the route offers a new holiday destination from Ireland’s west and south east.

Aer Arann flights to London Southend go on sale from today, 31 January and can be booked on www.aerarann.com. With fares starting at just €39.99 one way including taxes.