Irish Daily Mail

Lee-haw! First Cork-US f light to take off

- By Shirley Donlon

THE USA is going to get a taste of the Rebel County today – with the first transatlan­tic flight from Cork Airport taking off this afternoon.

Low-cost airline Norwegian is launching a series of new routes from three Irish airports to the US East Coast – a year later than had originally been planned.

The new flights will serve smaller US airports of Stewart Internatio­nal and Providence on the East Coast, which carry much lower landing charges than more familiar, central airports such as John F Kennedy Internatio­nal.

In a quick online search, a return flight from Cork Airport to Providence for a week’s trip in July flying with Norwegian was €350.90. A trip of the same length in September came to €231. Dublin Airport today will see the launch of a new daily service from Dublin to Stewart Internatio­nal airport in New York State, followed by a five-weekly service to Providence taking off on Sunday at 3pm.

On Monday, new flights from Shannon to Providence will also launch at around 3.40pm.

Matthew Thomas, CEO of Shannon Group, said of the new services: ‘The introducti­on of low-cost transatlan­tic flying is another major milestone for our passengers.’

Flights from Shannon Airport to Providence around the same dates in July came to a total of €299.60 and €249.60 in September. A return journey from Shannon Airport to Stewart Internatio­nal airport for just under one week in July came to €339.60, the same in August came to €359.60, while prices dropped to €249.60 in October.

Cork Airport’s managing director Niall MacCarthy said: ‘The official history of Cork Airport was last published in 2011 in a book entitled Fifty Years Have Flown. Today a new chapter can be added to that book.’

Norwegian chief executive Bjorn Kjos said the flights offered very good value. He said: ‘Travel should be affordable for all, so these new transatlan­tic flights offer more choice and lower fares that will allow as many Irish passengers as possible to fly.’ Last year, the airline company came in for criticism from then presidenti­al candidate Hillary Clinton.

Mrs Clinton urged then US president Barack Obama to reject Norwegian’s flying permit in the US.

Mrs Clinton’s campaign director Nikki Budzinski released a statement urging the Obama Administra­tion not to move forward with the final approval of Norwegian airline’s entry into the US airline market because, according to Ms Budzinski, Norwegian Air Internatio­nal had been criticised for ‘unfair labour practices that threaten American jobs’.

However, despite controvers­y, Norwegian Air was granted finally a permit for US-Ireland flights last December.

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