The Irish airline will operate four return flights a week between the Highlands and the Irish capital from 10^th April this year. The service will be the first direct scheduled air connection between the Highlands and the Republic of Ireland.

Transport Minister Tavish Scott today announced that the Executive's Route Development Fund (RDF) would support Aer Arann in operating the all year round service.

Mr Scott said: "Businesses in the Highlands will now have direct access to the economy of the Republic of Ireland . The new air service will also provide more opportunities for tourists from Ireland to visit the many tourist attractions in the north and far north.

"The Route Development Fund now supports 22 year-round routes from Scottish airports to many European destinations as well as to the USA and Dubai and this year a further ten routes are set to take off.

"The fund has made a real difference for business travellers and tourists by expanding our direct air services to the rest of the world."

Aer Arann will fly the route with 66-seat ATR72 aircraft with a flight time between Inverness and Dublin airports of one hour and 15 minutes. The service will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays departing Dublin at 10.30am and Inverness at 12.15pm.

Fares will start at £24.99 one way, exclusive of taxes and charges. Tickets are available for sale on the airline’s http://www.aerarann.com website.

Dublin has been one of the routes most regularly cited as a “must have” by people and businesses in the region and Highlands and Islands Airports Limited has been in discussion with the airline for two years regarding the introduction of the service.

Announcing the new service at Inverness Airport , Jennifer Mooney, communications director at Aer Arann said: “We are delighted to be adding Inverness-Dublin to our network of Scottish routes. We believe there is considerable potential for a direct service between these two cities and look forward to working with the airport to develop this service over the coming months.”

Inglis Lyon, managing director of HIAL said: “We are delighted to have secured a scheduled service to Dublin and have no doubt that it will prove popular with both business and leisure travellers.

“I am pleased to say that stakeholders including the local enterprise company and VisitScotland have been very supportive in the route development process and we all look forward to this service making a significant contribution to the Highland economy,” said Mr Lyon.

James Walton, Inverness Airport manager added: “This is an excellent addition to the scheduled services at Inverness and offers not only direct access to the Irish Republic but also a huge range of onward travel opportunities from Dublin which is a major international airport.

“With competitive fares and almost 600 seats a week available this route will provide a further boost to passenger growth at the region’s gateway airport,” said Mr Walton.

Inverness is the largest of 10 airports in the region operated by HIAL and handles more than 330 scheduled flights each week. It is the fastest growing airport in the region and has seen passenger growth of 63% since 1999 as a result of route development and air service enhancements. The airport is on target to handle circa 650,000 passengers in the year ending 31 March 2006.

The airport currently handles more than 330 scheduled flights a week operated by BA (BA Connect and BA franchise partner Loganair), bmi, easyJet, Eastern Airways and Highland Airways to destinations including London (Gatwick, Heathrow and Luton), Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stornoway, Kirkwall and Sumburgh.

Research published last year showed that the airport, an important gateway for business and leisure travel, provides an annual economic output of £120 million and supports 2,300 full time equivalent jobs in the Highlands.

The route announcement was widely welcomed by local politicians, business and tourism leaders.

Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber said: “This is a Celtic connection of the airways, bringing together the Shamrock and the Thistle.  Everyone involved at HIAL and Aer Arann are to be congratulated on this new route.”

Danny Alexander, MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey said: “This new service to Dublin is great news from the Highlands. The expansion in services from Inverness airport will help to improve business and tourism links yet further. With the airport PFI now bought out, I am sure we will see Inverness airport go from strength to strength and make an even greater contribution to the Highlands economy.”

Ian Fraser head of business development at Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey Enterprise said: “We are delighted at the confirmation of this new route at Inverness. The possibility of a link with Dublin has been a target for a few years now in terms of tourism and business traffic and, importantly, the opening up of potential links with the American market travelling via Ireland.”