CLEVELAND — Travelers may soon be able to fly nonstop daily from Cleveland to Dublin, Ireland.
On Monday, Cleveland City Council introduced legislation that would provide up to $600,000 in economic development funds to Irish air carrier Aer Lingus to start and maintain direct flights from Hopkins Airport to Ireland for a period of three years.
According to the legislation, the anticipated start time for the daily service from CLE to Dublin would be on January 1, 2023 and continue through at least March 31, 2026.
The $600,000 in funds would come from an Urban Development Action Grant and would be given to Team NEO. Jobs Ohio will assist with additional funding, with the city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Greater Cleveland Partnership, Team NEO, and Destination Cleveland combining for an additional $2.4 million towards the new service.
The announcement about Aer Lingus' new Cleveland-to-Ireland service is expected to come during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon at Hopkins Airport.
"The primary goal of this project is to re-establish daily nonstop air service from Cleveland to Europe and make Cuyahoga County a more attractive location for private businesses to locate in Cuyahoga County by maintaining daily nonstop air service to Europe," according to the legislation.
The last nonstop service from Cleveland to Europe was through WOW Air from Hopkins to Iceland, which ended in 2018. WOW Air ceased its operations the following year.
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