The first direct air link between Galway and the greater London area in 10 years has been initiated by Aer Arann Express.
The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív, welcomed the move yesterday when he witnessed the departure of the first flight from Galway Airport to London Luton.
The service will use a 50-seater ATR 42 turboprop aircraft, and will involve one daily flight each way.
The flight will depart from Galway at 11.50 hours, arriving in London Luton at 13.50.
It will return from London at 14.20 hours, arriving in Galway at 16.20.
Fares on the route will start at €143.00 return mid-week including tax.
Mr Pádraig Ó Ceidigh, managing director of Aer Arann, said it was a very exciting development.
"We are introducing this service in response to demand from the local community and believe that a Galway-London air service will have huge benefits for the Galway region," he said yesterday.
"We look forward to working with local tourism organisations and business to promote the service and - subject to demand - hope to be able to increase the service to two flights a day for summer 2003."
Mr Jarlath Feeney, general manager of Galway Airport, said the direct service would be an enormous boost to industry in the region.
"The Galway-Dublin route has seen enormous growth since Aer Arann Express was awarded the contract in 2000," he said.
Aer Arann, which was set up originally to serve the Aran Islands, runs public service obligation (PSO) contracts on regional routes between Dublin and Kerry, Galway and Knock.
It lost two regional contracts - Dublin-Donegal and Dublin-Sligo - in the last PSO round to EuroCeltic Airways.
Last month it confirmed that it had reduced its flights on its Dublin-Shannon service by half, just five months after this service was introduced.
