At LAST ! - Direct flights from Bay Area to Ireland !

So we have been campaigning here in Bay Area for at least 20 years for direct flights from Bay Area to Ireland. Right now you can go through LA to Dublin only twice a week, or via Chicago, NY, Boston or via London so the trip is now 18-24 hours instead of a 10 hour trip. (Anyone who has hiked through Heathrow airport to the very very far away Irish connection knows how much it sucks to get from London to Ireland after the 10 hour flight and then 5 hour wait in London after a two mile walk between the terminals).

Of course I was hoping from direct flights from San Jose to Dublin but looks like will be San Francisco to Dublin starting in Autumn 2007 which will be grand for seeing the family in Ireland. Lot easier and a long time coming.

So St Patricks Day they announced that they will be staring flights on Aer Lingus 5 days a week. So great news for folks here. Still has to be finalized and agreed but looks like will happen.

Direct flight to Dublin finally set Chronicle Staff Saturday, March 17, 2007
After four years of trying by city officials to establish a nonstop flight between SFO and Dublin, Ireland, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said Friday that the airline Aer Lingus is expected to begin a five-day-a-week, direct flight by the end of the year.
Joined by Supervisor Sean Elsbernd and Martin Cullen, the Irish minister for transport, Newsom said it was an important milestone for the 11 percent of Bay Area residents who are of Irish descent. He said it would prove an economic boost, providing more than 900 jobs and bringing in $6.8 million in taxes each year to the city and state.
The European Union’s Council of Transport Ministries must approve the flight — which it is expected to do at its meeting next week.


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/17/BUG08ON54G1.DTL
http://www.examiner.com/a-624351~SFO_may_be_end_of_rainbow.html
http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2007/03/12/daily51.html
http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2007/03/12/daily51.html