Air Wales, the national Welsh airline, is to introduce a new route between Dublin and Cork, its first internal flight in Ireland.
The new route will be added to the airline's schedule beginning on April 28th. Two return flights between Dublin and Cork will be provided daily, Monday to Friday. There will also be flights on Saturday and Sunday.
Mr Adrian Thompson, the managing director of Air Wales, said: "The Irish market is going from strength to strength, with an increasing number of passengers travelling daily on all routes. The new Dublin-Cork route will answer a definite need for a fast, efficient and lower-cost service between two of Ireland's major cities."
The service was welcomed by Aer Rianta's director of Dublin Airport, Mr Robert Hilliard. "I am delighted that Air Wales will now operate services on the Dublin- to-Cork route, thereby strengthening business and tourist links to the south-west of Ireland."
The first flight on each weekday will leave Dublin at 11.20 a.m., arriving in Cork at 11.50 a.m. The return flight will leave Cork at 2.30 p.m., arriving in Dublin at 3 p.m.
The second flight will leave Dublin at 3.50 p.m., arriving in Cork at 4.20 p.m., with the return flight leaving Cork at 9 p.m., arriving at 9.30 p.m.
On Saturdays, there will be one return flight departing Cork at 5.30 p.m., arriving in Dublin at 6 p.m. The return will leave Dublin at 6.25 p.m., arriving at 6.55 p.m.
On Sundays, there will be a flight from Dublin at 9.55 a.m., arriving at 10.25 a.m. The return will leave Cork at 5.25 p.m. and arrive in Dublin at 5.55 p.m.
A spokeswoman for the airline said the cost for a single flight would be €39.
A new route has also been added between Belfast City Airport and Cardiff. Starting April 28th, there will be one return flight each weekday, leaving Cardiff at 7 a.m. The return flight from Belfast will leave at 8.30 a.m. There will one return flight on Sunday evening.
The spokeswoman said Air Wales had upgraded its fleet through the purchase of two new ATR-42 aircraft. The 48-seater aircraft had already begun operating on all Air Wales services. An additional two aircraft had been ordered, and were due within the next two months.
Air Wales is the national airline of Wales, operating since 1999. Based at Swansea airport, services operate daily between Cardiff, Swansea, Plymouth, Jersey, Dublin and Cork.