New airline Eirjet takes to the skies

Eirjet, a new Shannon-based charter airline commences operations today.

Operating an Airbus A320 aircraft with 180 seats, Eirjet will provide aircraft for tour operators and for ad hoc charters. Their first flight operates from Shannon today to Agadir, Morocco for Sunway Holidays.

Eirjet aims to fill a niche in the Irish airline market. Irish tour operators have experienced difficulty in sourcing Irish based aircraft in the 150-180 seats bracket from which they would operate charter services.

Eirjet will have three aircraft in operation for summer 2005, flying from Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports.

Speaking at the launch of their inaugural flight today, Eirjet managing director Paul Schütz said: “Today is the culmination of six months of hard work by our dedicated team.

"I am confident that the new Shannon Airport Authority will grow passenger numbers significantly at the airport and Eirjet looks forward to working with them and providing part of that growth.”

Martin Moroney, director of Shannon Airport, said: “We are delighted that we will have a Shannon- based airline serving the charter segment of our business. We look forward to working with Eirjet and our tour operator customers in developing their range of services from Shannon in 2005.”

Eirjet say that their operations will not be limited to Irish outbound operations and they are actively in discussions with several leading European tour operators about providing their aircraft for services into Ireland.

Eirjet has created 30 new jobs in Shannon. This will grow to over 100 early in 2005.