British regional airline Euroceltic is set to benefit from an Irish regional airport development aid scheme as it launches an additional Liverpool service to the country's Waterford airport.
Euroceltic has already doubled frequencies on the route from its base at London Luton to Waterford, now renamed South Eastern Regional Airport, and is likely to start a new service from Liverpool to the Irish city in mid-July.
The airline is finalising plans to introduce a three-times weekly Liverpool-Waterford service using the midday downtime of its two Fokker F27 turboprops. Luton is also likely to regain its Liverpool connection, with Euroceltic thought to be planning to fill the void left when EasyJet withdrew from the route earlier this year.
Chief executive Diran Kazandjian says that the F27s only have a place in the fleet for two years more and that he is considering Bombardier Dash 8-300s and BAe 146s for future expansion. Key to the decision will be the speed of government-funded airport development in Ireland. "Jets would obviously improve our attractiveness, but the airports we are looking at for future routes cannot take them," he says.
South Eastern Regional Airport has just been awarded I£155,000 ($170,000) in government aid for marketing, while runway-widening is likely to take place under a I£11m national development plan.
Flights within Ireland will benefit from European Union subsidies under the public service obligations (PSO) air routes scheme for inaccessible areas. The winning bids for Ireland's PSOs are Aer Arann Express and Loganair for, respectively, five routes linking Knock, Donegal, Galway, Kerry and Sligo to Dublin at a cost of I£8.7 million this year, and a Londonderry Dublin route at a cost of I£1.82 million.Source: Flight International
