Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has welcomed the announcement by Canadian airline WestJet that it will begin a new daily Dublin-Newfoundland summer service from next June. 
The new route, which will operate from June to October, is WestJet’s first European destination. Canadian carrier WestJet flies to 87 destinations in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Dublin is its first transatlantic route.
The WestJet announcement means that Dublin Airport will have four new transatlantic services next summer, bringing the total number of North American destinations served from Dublin to 13.
Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar said the new WestJet service will bring extra visitors to Ireland next summer and strengthen the already close links between Ireland and Newfoundland. “This new WestJet service from St John’s Airport in Newfoundland to Dublin is fantastic news and I wish the airline every success with its first transatlantic venture. It’s great for tourism and for trade between our two countries. I travelled to Newfoundland as part of a tourism and trade mission and there are very strong cultural and diaspora links between Ireland and the province.”
DAA Chief Executive Kevin Toland said he was delighted that WestJet had selected Dublin as its first European destination. “It’s always exciting to welcome a new airline partner to Dublin and to Ireland and our entire team at Dublin Airport will work closely with WestJet to grow and promote this new service.”
Toland added that the new long-haul and short-haul routes that have already been announced for next year would deliver another strong year of growth at Dublin Airport in 2014. “We have added one million extra passengers over the past 12 months with significant growth in long-haul traffic to North America and the Middle East. The new routes and expansions for next year already announced by customers such as WestJet, Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Norwegian and Air Canada Rouge will continue and strengthen our recent growth phase.”
Chris Avery, WestJet’s Vice-President, Network Planning, Alliances and Corporate Development, said it was “an exciting time” for the airline “as we bring our unique brand of low fares and award-winning guest experience to a whole new market.”
The new WestJet service will operate daily from 15th June until 5th October, with a flight time of less than five hours on a 136-seat Boeing 737-700 aircraft. Flights will depart Dublin at 8.20am arriving in St John’s at 9.55am with the return flight leaving St John’s at 11.15pm and arriving in Dublin at 7.00am the next morning. WestJet will also offer connections via St John’s to Toronto (on the same aircraft), and to other cities such as Ottawa, Halifax, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg.
