Air Southwest announces major expansion
Air Southwest is doubling the destinations available from Plymouth City Airport and adding three new routes at Newquay Cornwall Airport in a major expansion of regional air services.Air Southwest is doubling the destinations available from Plymouth City Airport and adding three new routes at Newquay Cornwall Airport in a major expansion of regional air services.
The low fares airline will connect Plymouth with Newcastle, Glasgow, Dublin, Cork and Chambéry, gateway to the French Alps.
At Newquay there will be new flights to Glasgow, Newcastle and Chambéry, and an increased service to Cork following a successful summer-only service this year.
To celebrate Air Southwest is offering 10,000 seats on the new flights at just £35 to Glasgow and Newcastle and £30 to Cork and Dublin, including taxes. Seats are on sale from today at Airsouthwest.com.
The flights will operate year-round and start on April 28 next year with the exception of Chambéry, which will operate during the ski season and go on sale later.
Jim Cameron, chief executive of Air Southwest, said: “This is a major expansion of Air Southwest’s year-round services from South West England, doubling the number of destinations available from Plymouth and cementing our position as the biggest operator out of Newquay.
“We continually evaluate new route opportunities and we are confident that our new flights will be popular with business and leisure passengers.”
The new services have been warmly welcomed by the region’s business community.
Mike Leece, chairman of Plymouth Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “This is great news for Plymouth and opens up significant opportunities for business and leisure travel. It demonstrates Air Southwest’s further commitment to Plymouth City Airport and will be a welcome boost for air services to the region.”
Thelma Sorensen, chairman of the Cornwall Business Partnership, said: “This is fantastic news for Cornwall and opens up huge opportunities for business and leisure travel by increasing our connectivity. It means Air Southwest will serve nine destinations from Newquay and will help build Newquay’s reputation as one of the UK’s fastest growing regional airports.”
Malcolm Bell, chief executive of South West Tourism, said: “For years we have seen a reduction in visitors to the far South West from the North East and Scotland because people on short breaks don’t want to travel for more than half a day and coming by car or the train takes too long. These new services provide an air bridge back to some of our traditional markets that have been denied to us for two decades and it’s great news for the region.”
From Plymouth, the new flights to Gatwick and Newcastle will operate seven days a week. There will be four fights a week to Cork and three a week to Dublin. All these services will operate year-round.
From Newquay, flights to Glasgow and Newcastle will operate seven days a week, and Cork six days a week, year-round.
The flights to Chambéry will operate every Saturday between December 20 next year and March 28 2009 with fares starting from just £35 including taxes.
Customers can register to receive an email alert when the flights go on sale at Airsouthwest.com.
Air Southwest, which has just celebrated its fourth birthday and has carried more than one million passengers since its launch, already flies four times a day, seven days a week from Plymouth and Newquay to London Gatwick and has regular flights to Manchester, Leeds Bradford, Dublin, Bristol and Jersey.