PADDY'S
TENTH: Dublin's annual St.
Patrick's Festival to run March 16 to 20 will celebrate its 10th
anniversary this year. The event has morphed from a traditional
march of floats and bands back in 1994 to a five-day festival of
free arts events today, with 4,000 performers and 1 million
attendees including 250,000 visitors who pump some $104 million
into the Dublin economy.
Planned events include
the St. Patrick's Day Parade and the Ceili Mor Irish dance event on
Merrion Square, both on March 17; the citywide Denny Treasure Hunt,
March 19; and the Denny Big Day Out family street arnival on March
20. A full events program will be announced on Feb. 8. To register
for the treasure hunt and for more informatoin, visit www.stpatricksfestival.ie.
EARLY
DEPARTURES: John Sharman,
chairman of Aer Lingus, said the three top executives slated to
resign from the airline by this summer will leave earlier, on Jan.
28, thanks to a faster-than-expected transition. CEO Willie Walsh,
Chief Financial Officer Brian Dunne and Chief Operating Officer
Seamus Kearney had announced in November that they would leave the
airline as of May 1. Shander said he will chair board meetings
until a new chief executive is found. For more, visit www.aerlingus.com.
ON THE
GO: Active travel operator
Killary Tours in Leenane, County Galway winner of Failte Ireland's
Irish Welcome Award in the Transport and Tours category for 2004 in
December, thanks to the work on staff tour guide Mick Langan plans
some new offerings for 2005. On tap are new tours, such as
self-guided, short walking tours in the Burren, on the Dingle
peninsula, and around the Boyle region along the Arigna Miners
Trail. In addition, the compnay will expand its popular Cannondale
hybrid bicycle fleet. For more, visit www.killary.com.
ULSTER AIR
WAYS: Lowfare U.K. carrier
Easyjet will launch two new routes from Belfast International
Airport, to Berlin (Schoenefeld) and Rome (Ciampino), on July 1 and
2, respectively, bring the airline's total European flights from
Northern Ireland to nine.
The flights are
subsidized by the British province's Air Route Development Fund,
devised to help develop of new air routes such as the daily
transatlantic Continental Airlines service from Newark to begin May
26.
EasyJet flies also from
Belfast to Alicante, Malaga and Palma (Majorca) in Spain;
Amsterdam; Geneva, Switzerland; and Nice and Paris in France. For more on Belfast International, visit www.bial.co.uk. For EasyJet, visit www.easyjet.com.