Gothenburg Image courtesy Google 

Many Irish and Swedes with Gothenburg and Dublin connections are now hoping for a direct service between the two cities, following the abolishment of the air travel tax, creating new opportunities for business and tourism.

For more than four years a Facebook group, Bring Back Gothenburg-Dublin Route, has been pushing for the route’s return. The group now has close to 376 members. Ryanair launched flights between Gothenburg and Dublin in 2006, but the route was dropped in 2009 when the Irish Government introduced the €10 air travel tax.

A spokesman for Facebook group said “We set up this page to try and create awareness to the airlines that a direct flight between Gothenburg and Dublin is badly needed. People today are now forced to take two flights in either direction or take a direct flight to Rygge (Oslo) in Norway. But then it takes nearly 3 hours by car train or bus just to get to Gothenburg.

A high percentage of passengers final destination is actually Gothenburg when flying to Rygge (Oslo) so why can’t Ryanair just fly us directly to Gothenburg and save us 3 hours in extra travelling from Rygge to Gothenburg.

We all had great hope last October when Michael Cawley of Ryanair admitted live on radio on Today FM “The Matt Cooper Show” that Ryanair were indeed in talks with Gothenburg City Airport in reinstating the flight as a result of the Irish Government’s abolished the tourist tax.

We will continue to campaign for the reinstatement of the flight and hopefully one of the airlines will bring the people of Ireland and Western Sweden closer together with a direct flight. Of course we would love to see Ryanair reinstate the flight but we are also asking SAS, Norwegian and Aer Lingus to look into this route between Dublin and Sweden’s second city Gothenburg.”

On 24th October 2013 on The Last Word with Matt Cooper, the issue of Gothenburg to Dublin route was discussed (Starts 24.45 minutes). The carrier announced on 29th April, a new Gothenburg to Bremen connection, commencing three times weekly on 28th October.

Travelling between Dublin and Gothenburg is extremely costly and very time consuming, as the only option is to fly to Oslo Rygge and take a train bus or car which takes 3 hours to get to Sweden’s second city Gothenburg or fly via Copenhagen or Stockholm.

According to The Gothenburg Region Report 2013  “The region will become more accessible internationally through the range of destinations and journey opportunities to and from Göteborg Landvetter Airport.” by 2030.

Gothenburg is the second largest city in Sweden , the city proper has a population of 533,260, with 549,839 in the urban area and 956,118 inhabitants in the metropolitan area. The city was ranked as the 12th most inventive city in the world by Forbes,  Volvo cars is the largest employer in Gothenburg region.

                                                 

Irish Aviation Research Institute © 23rd June 2014 All Rights Reserved.