WORLD Airways, the US carrier that began scheduled services to Ireland in May, is to end them next month. Sources in the company said the Los Angeles service to Shannon would end on September 2nd and the last service to New York would be on September 21st.
World Airways said other carriers had agreed to honour tickets issued for flights booked after these dates.
A spokesman for Aer Rianta, the airports authority, said yesterday it had received no notification from World Airways of its intention to pull out of the Irish market. The airline has been operating four flights a week from New York to Shannon.
The pullout is a blow to the Department of Tourism and Trade, which has been attempting to get US airlines to fly to Ireland on the grounds that Americans generally prefer to travel on American carriers.
World Airways said it was giving up its scheduled services to concentrate on its core charter operations.