By Judy Rife
Times Herald-Record
STEWART AIRPORT - Norwegian Air is betting its European customers will take same-day flights between Dublin, Ireland, and Stewart International Airport to shop at Woodbury Common Premium Outlets.
The carrier told Irish newspapers this week that as of April 26 it will begin flying twice a day between Dublin and Stewart instead of once. The new flight will leave Dublin at 8:30 a.m. and land at Stewart about seven hours later, or 10:30 a.m.
The shoppers among the passengers can opt for a travel package that includes a shuttle bus to whisk them to Woodbury Common and back in time for the flight home. Ticket prices and other flight times weren’t released.
“We have a feeling these flights will be all booked up in no time!? wrote Ryan Price in The Irish Post, adding shoppers could be over and back in about the same amount of time it takes to lap the M50, Ireland’s busiest highway.
The newspaper and others gushed knowingly about Woodbury Common’s 240 high-end stores. The euro is currently worth $1.23.
“We are delighted that Norwegian is offering flights to and from Ireland that make it easy for shoppers to experience ... Woodbury Common,? said Roland Figueredo, the outlet center’s director of marketing and business development, in a statement.
“It’s the kind of thing all of us have been discussing since the beginning (of Norwegian’s service at Stewart),? added George Grieve, regional vice president of Coach USA/Short Line.
Woodbury Common and Coach USA, in addition, are poised to tap another segment of Norwegian’s market as of March 24: the passengers who come to Stewart from New York City.
These European or American travelers will be offered a travel package that includes a bus ticket from the city, a Woodbury Common coupon book and a bus ticket to the airport. Storage for their luggage will be available, too.
The airport buses, part of Coach USA’s Stewart Airport Express service, will leave the outlet center twice a day, at times linked to Norwegian’s evening flights.
Norwegian wasn’t immediately available for comment but Bjorn Kjos, the airline’s CEO, said when he visited Stewart in September that the Dublin route was the most popular one – and the most likely one to grow.
The carrier has been releasing information about its schedule adjustments for the coming travel season in bits and pieces. Last month, Norwegian said it would reduce flights between Stewart and Edinburgh, Scotland, to four a week from seven and increase flights between Stewart and Shannon, Ireland, to three from two.
Norwegian initiated Stewart’s first international flights in June and by Dec. 31 had carried more than 125,000 passengers between the airport and Edinburgh; Dublin; Shannon; Belfast, Northern Ireland; and Bergen, Norway.
