In a major boost to Irish Tourism, Delta Airlines have announced that they will reinstate their winter schedule between JFK  and Shannon Airport for the 2010-2011 winter season.

Delta withdrew the route for winter 2009/10 opting only for a summer service, however the resumption of the winter link is a huge boost for Shannon Airport, Ireland’s midwest and Irish tourism in general delivering greater cometition for North American tourists looking to fly to Ireland

Ryanair have launched their much heralded onboard inflight mobile phone service.

While phones will be billed by the users mobile phone company, the service, provided by OnAir, will cost approximately €0.50 to send a text message and between €2.00 and €3.00 per minute to make and receive calls.

Switching on your phone and receiving text messages will be free.

The service will also provide internet connectivity for email via Blackberry, iPhone etc.

Today is the last day of Ryanair’s latest special offer for flights to Ireland.
Book by midnight tonight to avail of 75% off their fares.

There are some great value rates available.
I just did a quick survey right now on the London Stanstead to Cork Airport Route: There are flights available for travel in March (even for St. Patrick’s day) for less than stg £50 return including all taxes.

If you have any plans to come to Ireland this Spring, I’d get booking my flights today!

Ryanair have announced new routes from their Spanish hub in Alicante to Derry Airport and Knock Airport in the North and West of Ireland.

The budget airline said today that the services from City of Derry Airport and Ireland West Airport Knock would be operating twice weekly from June 4th of this year.

Alicante becomes the 7th Ryanair link to Derry Airport adding to Liverpool, London, Luton, Stansted, Glasgow and Birmingham. It will bring the number of Ryanair links to Knock to 3, in addition to Bristol and East Midlands.

The Mayor of Derry Gerard Diver said the new route was a fulfilment of a long-standing ambition stating that ”A direct scheduled international flight is a long-standing ambition for the city and region and today’s announcement will create more choice and greater convenience for passengers.”

“It is a positive way forward for City of Derry Airport.”

Michael O’Leary’s Ryanair officially presented its takeover bid to Aer Lingus investors yesterday, giving them until January 5th to accept the €1.40 ($1.87) per share offer.

Ryanair presented the opportunity to create ”one leading, financially strong, Irish-run airline group.”

The offered share price represents a €748 million offer, a premium of approximately 28% over the average closing price for the 30 days ended Nov. 28 and considerably lower than the €2.80 per share that it offered two years ago.

Ryanair guaranteed that Aer Lingus would remain a separately operated company and that both its brand and its slots and connectivity at London Heathrow would remain.

It plans to double Aer Lingus’ short-haul fleet over the next five years to 66 aircraft, creating a additional 1,000 jobs.

It also promised the Aer Lingus chairman, Colm Barrington, a seat on the Ryanair board however, Mr barrington responded that the offer was “the usual stream of invective, spin and misrepresentation that we expect from the people at Ryanair.”

Ryanair currently holds 29.8% of Aer Lingus.

Aer Lingus has vowed to remain independent and CEO, Dermot Mannion, said on Sunday that Aer Lingus will respond to the offer document with a ” very positive, affirmative document that will set out an independent strategy for long-term growth on shorthaul and on longhaul in the business”

This will be intersting to watch and is likely to be ultimately  decided by the government who hold approx 25% of the airline’s shares. However, Ryanair are keen to also win support of the ESOP, who hold 14%, and have conceded that they will recognise union membership as part of the integration (something they do not do within Ryanair)

Ryanair announced today that they are to close 2 routes to Cork Airport from the United Kingdom.

This is a blow to toursim in the southwest of Ireland, a region that has also seen UK visitor numbers affected by the closure of the Swansea-Cork ferry 2 years ago.

The routes to close are from East-Midlands and Glasgow-Prestwick, which will close on October 26th and 28th respectively.

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said they had made the decision due to an increase in the charges being imposed by the airport on those routes from 1 November however Cork Airport management have rejected this claim stating that they have not raised charges.

Mr O’Leary claimed that he felt a deal was possible in recent negotiations but that the Airport’s parent company the Dublin Airport Authority(DAA) were blocking the move. He said that the situation could be rescued if the DAA “changed its mind” but as of now the two routes will finish in October.

This statement is sure to bring further pressure on government to complete the process of making Cork an independent airport from Dublin. This was promised with the breakup of Aer-Rianta in 2004, however as yet the process has been no more than a name change from Aer Rinata to the DAA.

As someone who works for an Irish company that has offices in both Cork and Glasgow, I really hope they sort this mess out!

Hands up if you’re tired yet of the endless talk about a recession in the economy? For months now, there has been speculation about whether there will be one, if it’s not there already.
Well if the answer above is yes, here’s some good news at last – myguideIreland are offering you a 7 Day Ireland vacation for only $250, thats less than the price of an iPhone!

You can customize your Ireland tour in many ways all with the help of your own personal Ireland specialist. Here’s an overview of whats included in the tour:

• 7-day rental of an economy car including all fees and taxes, CDW, theft protection and location service charge
• 6 nights at one of Ireland’s finest cottage vacation rentals
• Road map of Ireland
• Heritage guide to Ireland including admission special offers
• Free calls to your personal Ireland specialist

Read on to see a detailed tour summary

Aer Lingus has just announced its new winter schedule for 2008/09 to Cork Airport with the addition of a new service  from Cork to Geneva that will commence early December 2008.

Commenting on the news, Kevin Cullinane, Marketing Manager Cork Airport said, “We are delighted to welcome the addition of Geneva with Aer Lingus to the growing number of destinations served from Cork Airport. As Munster’s principal international gateway to the South of Ireland, Cork Airport continues to expand its network of destinations and growth into Europe which, in recent years has been led by Aer Lingus.”

This is a further vote of confidnece in Cork Airport by Aer Lingus. The airline employs in excess of 270 staff at Cork and in addition to these expanding passenger services Aer Lingus also provides Cargo services from Cork to London, Birmingham and a further 8 European destinations

Aer Lingus have just announced a sale that has flights to Ireland for only $289 in the peak Summer season and as low as $199 in low season.
I have been watching the price of travel this year and despite the weak dollar combined with expensive oil, a vacation in Ireland in 2008 looks like it will be better value than it has been in quite a few years.

The Aer Lingus sale combined with some great offers from tour operators like myguideIreland means that travelers from the USA or Canada who book early can avail of better value than last year.
For example, myguideIreland’s latest offer of a free night in an Irish Castle added to these great Aer Lingus fares means that you could spend a week in Irish hotels (including flights and rental car) for $972  in July or just $972 in April

If you book your own flights, a week in family run Bed and Breakfast accommodation is available from just $399 per person including rental car which makes Ireland very affordable this year without any compromise on the experience.

Everyone recognizes that 2008 will have its challenges but this response from the Irish tourist industry is sure to see thousands of US visitors yet again come to one of the friendliest tourist destinations in the world.