Ryanair Flights Not Likely Soon

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Irish Voice News

Ryanair Flights Not Likely Soon

October 4, 2007

By Niall O’Dowd

RYANAIR are unlikely to commence flights from Long Island to Ireland anytime soon despite media reports in New York to the contrary, Ryanair’s head of communications Peter Sherrard told the Irish Voice.

A number of stories last week in Long Island Newsday and also on 1010 WINS in New York highlighted comments from officials at MacArthur Airport in Islip, Long Island that they were close to signing a deal with Ryanair to fly from Long Island to European destinations, including Dublin.

However, Sherrard, speaking from Dublin, said there are no immediate plans to do so.

“There has been a lot of speculation,” Sherrard said, “and we are not saying we won’t come in at some point, but there are no immediate plans.”

Sherrard stated that at a recent airline conference in Stockholm, Ryanair was “submerged” by offers from airports to come and fly including several from the U.S., not just Long Island.

Sherrard stated the new interest was brought about because of the new open skies policy in Europe that allows airlines to fly to destinations of their choice.

Sherrard stated that it would be a sister company, not Ryanair itself that would eventually make the decision whether to fly or not.

He stated the biggest stumbling block was the lack of availability of cheap new aircraft at a time when airlines are rapidly expanding because of a huge increase worldwide in passenger numbers. MacArthur Airport is located 10 minutes from the Long Island railroad in Ronkonkoma, and the trip to Penn Station from there is 70 minutes.

There is a huge catchment area in Long Island of Irish Americans, while Ryanair’s tradition of low cost fights would also likely entice many frequent flyers to Ireland to the airline.

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