2 CONTENTS CONTENTS 26 16


4. Almost Half Million Seats Go On Market: Izmir Brings Number of Destinations to 24


12. Impressionist Painters Lead Art Attack! John Trew on his Specialist Subject


14. Back on the Tourist Map: Tunisia Beckons for Visitors from UK and Ireland


16. A Rail Menu to Savour: Nigel Heath on Board the California Zephyr


22-25. Fantastic Philly - America’s Birthplace: Four-page East Coast Special Feature


26. It’s Tulip Time in Amsterdam! Bulbfi elds Beckon for Visitors in Sprintime


DUBLIN Airport has welcomed the launch of a new airBaltic four times weekly summer service to Riga, operating an Airbus A220-300.


“We are delighted to welcome airBaltic back to Dublin Airport re-establishing the connection between our two capital cities,” said Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison.


“Riga is a beautiful city steeped in history and culture and its old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Not only can passengers now fl y direct to Riga they can also connect there to a range of destinations such as Tallinn, Vilinius, Russia and the Middle East,” he added.


AirBaltic Chief Executive Martin Gauss said: “Riga is a dynamic city and the key business centre of the Baltic states.


“We are excited to connect Dublin and Riga as it


THE expedition cruise sector is expected to grow by almost a third over the next four years as 28 ships come into the market.


Speaking at Cruise Line International Association’s (CLIA) fi rst Expedition Cruise Forum, Peter Shanks, Silversea’s UK Managing Director, described how the niche sector had a bright future.


Quoting results from a survey of the 100 agent delegates who attended the forum in central London,


QUESTION marks over Brexit is hitting demand for easyJet fl ights over the summer, the budget airline’s boss has admitted.


Chief Executive Johan Lundgren was speaking as the carrier confi rmed previous expectations of a winter pre-tax loss of around £275 million and voiced caution over the remainder of the year. The UK budget carrier blamed £37 million in high fuel costs and an £8 million adverse impact from foreign exchange.


The airline said: “Whilst easyJet will deliver H1 results


BALLYMENA reader JOHN STUART is the winner of a Weekend for Two in the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, just outside Dublin.


April/May 2019 Travel News April/May 2019


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Tel: 028 9066 6151 News Extra New routes to Riga and Lisbon


opens up connections not only to Latvia but also to our wider home region with Tallinn and Vilnius as well as many destinations in Scandinavia, the CIS and Middle East.”


AirBaltic serves over 70 destinations from Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius, off ering the largest variety of destinations and convenient connections via Riga to its network across Europe, Scandinavia, the CIS and the Middle East.


Meanwhile, TAP Air Portugal has started a new service from Dublin to Lisbon off ering two daily fl ights on Airbus A319, with convenient connections to its worldwide destinations.TAP is Portugal’s leading airline and Lisbon is a key European gateway at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, North, Central and South America, where TAP stands out as the international leading carrier in operation to Brazil.


Expedition cruises to grow by one third


he revealed how 90 per cent said they expected sales to grow in the next fi ve years.


Shanks, who is chair of the CLIA expedition working group, said: “We are expecting 30 per cent growth [of berth capacity] over the next four years at least.” He said the average expedition booking was between £10,000 and £20,000 and revealed that Sliversea’s fi rst expedition world cruise in 2021 had already had two bookings in excess of £300,000.


Brexit ‘uncertainty’ affects easyJet demand


in line with expectations, macroeconomic uncertainty and many unanswered questions surrounding Brexit are together driving weaker customer demand in the market, such that we are seeing increasing softness in ticket yields in the UK and across Europe.” Lundgren said: “We are operationally well prepared for Brexit. Now that the EU Parliament has passed its air connectivity legislation and together with the UK’s confi rmation that it will reciprocate, means that whatever happens, we’ll be fl ying as usual.”


Winner of Fitzpatrick Castle competition


John wins a two night stay for two people with Full Irish Breakfast and an Evening Meal in the Fitzpatrick Castle’s Mapas restaurant.


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