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Knock’s only air service to the States to be axed  SCOTTISH
airline Flyglobespan is to end its transatlantic service between Knock
and New York and Boston — ending the airport’s only connection
with America.
The low-cost operator had been providing a twice-weekly service to both
US cities between May and October from Ireland West Airport.
But a spokesman for the company confirmed that the services were unlikely
to go ahead this year.
They said: “With fuel at ?100 a barrel the airline is unlikely to
resume the service.
“Flyglobespan don’t think it is economically viable and would
have to pass on the charges to the passengers which is something they
don’t do.”
While the services were going well fuel increases mean any empty seats
are now more expensive to fund.
The spokesman said: “The airline is disappointed about this as it
had invested a lot of time and money in marketing the routes.
“By and large there has been positive feedback about them.”
Flyglobespan launched the transatlantic routes last year and leased planes
from Iceland to provide the service.
In the five months during which Flyglobespan operated out of Ireland West
Airport it carried more than 30,000 passengers on both routes —
with more than 85 per cent of seats filled within the first 12 weeks.
Annette Kearney from Ireland West Knock Airport confirmed that it was
in discussions with Flyglobespan about the company’s review of operations
from the Mayo facility.
She said the airport was also in discussions with a number of other companies
in relation to transatlantic services from Knock. |
