Two US tour operators plan to provide chartered transatlantic flights into Cork and Shannon airports this summer, adding 12,500 seats to traffic through both hubs this year, writes Barry O'Halloran

New York-based Hammond Tours and O'Connor Fairways have begun selling seats on chartered services into Cork and Shannon from New York and Boston.

It will be the first time that Cork, the smallest of the three State-owned airports, will serve as a destination for regular direct transatlantic services. The flights will begin in June.

Chicago-based Ryan International Airlines will operate the flights on behalf of the tour operators. The airline company, which has no connection with budget carrier Ryanair, operates scheduled and chartered flights from the US.

Ryan will use 210-seat Boeing 757s. Hammond vice-president Ms Kate Hammond Gallé said that, in total, the services would add 12,500 seats to the traffic into both airports.

The venture represents an investment in the region of $7.5 million (€6.2 million) for her company. The seats are selling for between $500 and $600 return.

Ms Hammond Gallé's family recently sold its original business, US-Ireland specialist operator Conway Hammond, to Long Island, New York-based Sceptre Travel. It subsequently decided to re-enter the market with this new venture.

Despite reports that the war in Iraq and a general fear of terrorism have left US citizens unwilling to travel, Ms Hammond Gallé said that the initial response to the offer, particularly the Cork flights, had been good.

Hammond and O'Connor have focused their marketing efforts on Irish-Americans and Irish people living in the US.

They have also been selling tickets to Irish travellers to the US through Cork-based Dawson Travel.

The Irish aviation industry will watch the development of the new service closely as it will have ramifications for both airports. Under the current bilateral agreement between the Irish and US governments, scheduled (as opposed to chartered) transatlantic flights can only operate from Dublin or Shannon.

However, the EU-US open-skies policy has spelled the end of the bilateral agreement, which would leave airports such as Cork and Knock open to scheduled traffic. At the same time, Shannon and Cork will be competing with each other when they are separated from Aer Rianta under proposals put forward last year by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan.

Development now under way at Cork Airport will also boost its capacity, allowing it to handle greater numbers of passengers. Sources suggested last night that the Hammond service could turn out to be a dry run, testing the airport's eventual ability to handle transatlantic flights.