A new a air route between Farranfore and Dublin hopes to bring more business and tourism to Kerry.
The first flight from Farranfore in County Kerry to Dublin takes off at 7.30 am on 31 July 1979. The new service is mainly targeted at business people in the region and hopes to boost the Kerry's commercial image.
There are around six thousand industrial jobs in Kerry at the moment with plans to increase this number to around eight thousand over the coming years.
The service will run every Tuesday and Thursday on a thirteen week trial period using an Aer Arann twin-engined islander. The ten seater plane will be based full time at Farranfore and can also be used to fly tourists over the Ring of Kerry and to bring seafood to France.
Local companies have guaranteed to take up at least three quarters of the seats on the one hour fifteen minute flight to Dublin.
The flight time, an hour and fifteen minutes, is designed to link up with connections to Britain and have executives back home the same night.
The return fare from Farranfore to Dublin is £40 in comparison to a fare of £14 for a day return on the train.
Gerry Landers of Tralee Chamber of Commerce believes that the new flight will offer executives the opportunity to have a full day of business in Dublin without having to stay over night. He sees the service as important for Kerry from both a business and tourist point of view.
The reason a Kerry man will use this is that they can get up and down in the one day and conduct a full day's business.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 31 July 1979. The reporter is George Devlin.
