A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Aer Lingus and Aer Arann add new routes to joint service
Aer Arann and Aer Lingus’s joint venture is to add two new routes from next March, operating between Dublin, Aberdeen and Bristol.
The Aer Lingus Regional service will operate three return flights six days each week and two return flights on Saturdays between Dublin and Bristol, and will fly six days a week to Aberdeen.
The services will also connect both routes with onward connections from Dublin to Aer Lingus transatlantic services.
The first flights will begin on March 2th and will be operated by a new ATR 72 aircraft.
The additional routes come as the Government announced it would lower the travel tax imposed on air passengers from €10 to €3.
Aer Arann chief executive Paul Schütz said routes would benefit both business and tourism.
The number of Aer Lingus Regional routes operated by Aer Arann will grow to 15 with the addition of the Bristol and Aberdeen routes. The joint venture passenger numbers are expected to grow to 750,000 in 2011.
Foreign nationals send home €274m
Foreign nationals working in Ireland repatriated a total of €274 million to their home countries during the first half of 2010, according to estimates produced by the Central Statistics Office.
This compares to an estimated €572 million sent home by overseas workers in 2009, and €737 million in 2008.
The inflow of remittances from Irish people working abroad was estimated at a relatively small €8 million in 2008, rising to about €10 million in 2009.
Early bidders for CRH debt
A number of early bidders have emerged for the US denominated debt that Irish building materials group CRH is seeking to recapitalise.
The group recently raised $750 million through a bond sale to US institutions and said it would buy back existing bonds due on various dates in the next three years.
Early bidders for all classes of bond have tendered the company, according to statements issued yesterday and on Monday night. Its offer will end on December 28th.