WORLD ROUTES 2011: Ireland West Airport Knock Secures Lufthansa Link

Last month Ireland West Airport Knock announced the arrival of Lufthansa in the West of Ireland market after securing a new service to Dusseldorf with the German flag carrier. The weekly rotation will operate every Saturday between May 7, 2012 and September 29, 2012 and will be operated by an 83-seat aircraft. Alongside the direct link to Dusseldorf the service will provide connecting links to the German cities of Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich.

The announcement of these new services is a major milestone in the airport’s history and connects the West and North West of Ireland with Germany, the world's largest outbound market and the third largest source of visitors to the island of Ireland. Over 400,000 Germans visit Ireland each year with more than 200,000 visiting the West and North West of Ireland.

The new service has the potential to bring around 2,000 German tourists to the region generating an estimated spend in excess of €1,000,000 for the West and North West regions. “Germany is a key market for Irish tourism as German tourists tend to stay for an average of a week at a time and travel more widely. This is a great example of how close co-operation between the transport and tourism sectors can deliver a successful result,” said Leo Varadkar, the Irish Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

The HUB spoke to Donal Healy, Marketing Manager, Ireland West Airport Knock, to learn more about the new route and how important it will be for the West and North West of Ireland. “We have been in discussions now with Lufthansa for over three years regarding potential services to our airport so it is an absolute delight to get them over the line,” he said. We already have over 200,000 Germans visiting the West of Ireland each year despite no direct access to the region, so this is a welcome development for the West of Ireland.”

The route will initially operate for a 20 week period and will bring around 2,000 tourists into Ireland according to airport forecasts, but according to Healy there is the possibility of the operating jet being increased to a larger capacity aircraft if sales are stronger than expectations.

“The connecting flights to the likes of Frankfurt offer hub connectivity and interlining for the first time which should be popular and the city pairs to Munich, Berlin, and Hamburg also offer great choice and connections for both inbound and outbound visitors,” he added. “We would have the expectation that in year two further services and additional capacity would be added to alternative destinations in Germany.”