The announcement by American Airlines of a new, daily flight between JFK, New York and Dublin, which will commence on 13 June 2013, has been welcomed by Minister Leo Varadkar and Tourism Ireland.

The service will operate until October 2013 and will help boost both leisure and business tourism from the US market.

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “This is wonderful news for tourism to the island of Ireland. We have worked closely with American Airlines for many years and look forward to co-operating with them to maximise the promotion of this new route. As an island, direct, convenient and competitive access services are critical to achieving growth in inbound tourism. Tourism Ireland is committed to working with American Airlines, Dublin Airport and other tourism interests, through co-operative marketing, to drive demand for this new service – as we work with other carriers and partners to promote and help maintain vital routes and services to the island.

Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar said the new service will provide important new capacity between Ireland and America for the Gathering next year.

“I’m delighted that American Airlines is opening a new route between Dublin and JFK. This new summer service will provide extra capacity to Ireland and help in our efforts to bring more tourists to Ireland next year for the Gathering.

“This news follows closely after the announcement by United of a new service between Shannon Airport and Chicago, which will also provide increase capacity into the west of Ireland.

“This year there was strong demand for seats from the United States to Ireland, but the limited number of seats available meant that fares remained relatively high. New services like this one between Dublin and JFK should help to bring down fares by adding to capacity, and help our efforts to boost visitor numbers during the Gathering Ireland 2013.”