This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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New air routes to Madrid and Milan
18/12/2006
Two new daily air services between Edinburgh and Madrid and Milan will begin next year, supported by the Executive's Route Development Fund.
VisitScotland has teamed up with easyJet on a joint marketing initiative to promote Scotland in Madrid and Milan as an ideal travel destination. The funding for the new venture will come out of the additional £800,000 which the Executive awarded to VisitScotland earlier this year to promote direct air services to Scotland.
Tourism Minister Patricia Ferguson said:
"These new direct services to Madrid and Milan will help create new business and tourism opportunities for Edinburgh and Scotland. The ease of access with direct air links allows Scots to explore business interests in Europe, while at the same time attracting more overseas visitors to Scotland, further strengthening our links with Spain and Italy.
"Tourism is a leading sector of the Scottish economy, and ventures such as the joint marketing initiative between VisitScotland and easyJet, backed by Executive funding, will help to open up new markets for Scotland's tourism industry. This will help us achieve our 50 per cent tourism revenue growth ambition for 2015 - and underlines that the Executive's top priority is economic growth."
Mary McLaughlin, Director of Transport at Scottish Enterprise, which co-funds and manages the Route Development Fund on behalf of the Executive, said:
"These two new routes are important additions to the 40 or so new air routes set up since the fund was launched. Both Madrid and Milan are designated as "world" cities in global rankings and direct access will greatly help Scottish companies pursue opportunities for business growth."
Denise Hill, VisitScotland's Head of International Marketing said:
"The value of international tourism to Scotland has increased by 50 per cent in the last five years. Scotland's fast growing air route network has meant fantastic opportunities to promote Scotland as an accessible holiday destination and to push it to further up the agenda of prospective travellers.
"easyJet is an exciting partner for Scottish tourism; with routes inbound from Berlin and Munich as well as the new Madrid and Milan routes, we have great opportunities to exploit major growth markets for international tourism."
Background:
easyJet intends to introduce a daily Edinburgh to Madrid service commencing February 25, 2007, and a daily Edinburgh to Milan (Malpensa) service commencing May 21, 2007. It will be a year-round service with a maximum of seven rotations per week.
The services will be operated on an Airbus 319 which has a capacity of 156 seats.
The Route Development Fund is provided through the Scottish Budget with £14.4 million funding over the period 2005-06 to 2007-08.
The Route Development Fund supports new air links where airlines can demonstrate the services will have a direct economic benefit to Scotland. The flights must involve regularly scheduled services and must not undermine existing flights. The exact amount from the fund given to the airline cannot be disclosed due to reasons of commercial confidentiality.
Since it was introduced in November 2002, the Route Development Fund has brought around £100 million of economic benefit to the Scottish economy. There are now over 30 routes currently operating which are supported by the RDF, and last year fund-supported routes carried about 1.4 million passengers.