First Aer Arann Flight To London Southend Takes To The Skies From Waterford Airport

March 2011

Waterford and Ireland’s South East business and tourism received a welcome boost today, as Aer Arann’s first flight to London Southend took to the skies from Waterford Airport.

Today’s flight from Waterford was the first to be operated into London Southend Airport by an Irish commercial airline.

To mark the celebrations, passengers travelling on the first flights from Waterford Airport enjoyed complimentary refreshments in the departure area prior to boarding.

From today, 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.

There will be two return flights each day, morning and evening, operating direct between Waterford and London Southend Airport.

Welcoming the introduction of the first flight from Waterford to London Southend, Aer Arann Chief Executive, Paul Schütz today said, “The launch of today’s inaugural flights mark a significant milestone for Aer Arann and together with London Southend Airport we are delighted to provide business and leisure customers with new connections between Ireland and the UK.”

“Our new services provide Irish customers with unique, hassle-free convenience and direct access to central London. Likewise UK customers will have Ireland on their doorstep with direct access to Waterford and Galway. We welcome the ongoing development of London Southend Airport and we look forward to providing passengers with potentially excellent onward connections to Europe”, he continued.

Alastair Welch, Managing Director of London Southend Airport said, “We’re very pleased to welcome Aer Arann to London Southend at this very exciting time in our redevelopment. Visiting passengers will be able to take advantage of the attractions on offer in Southend as well as the excellent access the airport offers into London. In return our local residents now have easy access to Waterford, to take advantage of the many attractions on offer – including the Tall Ships Race this Summer. Local businesses can take advantage of the regular conveniently timed flights and we look forward to further route announcements from London Southend in the coming months.”

Commenting on the route launch Graham Doyle, Chief Executive at Waterford Airport said, “We are delighted to now offer our South East passengers the option of fourteen flights per week to London Southend; it really does enable doing business or leisure time in London to be more accessible than it’s ever been. We are also looking forward to welcoming inbound passengers from the London Southend catchment area.”

With morning and evening flights between 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 with none of the time consuming hassle that is unavoidable when travelling through London’s major airports.

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 routes between Ireland and London Southend Airport are expected to boost both business and tourism travel between the UK and both 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.

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.

The Aer Arann summer schedule also commenced today which will see an increase in flights between Waterford and Galway. The two cities will be linked seven days a week with ten flights on this increasingly popular domestic route.

Although the opening of London Southend Airport’s new train station has been delayed by a few days awaiting regulatory approval, free shuttle buses will transport arriving passengers to the nearby Rochford train station just five minutes from the airport.

Aer Arann flights to London Southend are available for booking on www.aerarann.com. With fares starting at just €39.99 one way including taxes.