News

Dublin-Cairo route announced

EgyptAir is to launch a new year-round direct Dublin-Cairo service from this summer. cairo

The new route, which commences on June 5th, will operate four times a week, and will be Ireland’s first scheduled air service to Egypt.

A spokeswoman for DAA, said the market for air travel between Dublin and Cairo was increasing, with an estimated 14,000 passengers travelling between the two cities last year.

EgyptAir also has an extensive route network from its hub in Cairo to onward destinations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

The new service will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays with an Airbus A320NEO aircraft that is due to join the EgyptAir fleet in February. The 142-seat configuration will have 16 seats in business and 126 in economy.

New Stena ferry arrives

Stena Line's newest ferry has begun sailing the Dublin to Holyhead route on the Irish Sea.

The 215m (705ft) Stena Estrid is described as "one of the most advanced vessels in operation", with space to carry 120 cars and 1,000 passengers.

The RoPax vessel (Roll-on, Roll-off Passenger Ferry) will now make two daily return trips on the route, with a crossing time of three hours and 15 minutes.

Fares currently start from €104 each-way for a motorist with car.

Facilities on board include the ship’s Sky Bar, two 'Happy World' children’s play areas, two movie lounges, a larger Truckers' lounge, Taste restaurant and bigger shopping area.

Revised Plan for College Green

A new application for Dublin city’s flagship traffic-free civic plaza at College Green, Dublin, will be submitted early this year, Dublin City Council chief executive Owen Keegan has collegegreen

confirmed to the 'Irish Times'.

In November 2018 An Bord Pleanála rejected the council’s plans for pedestrian and cycle plaza scheme due to concerns about the “significantly negative impacts” it would have on bus transport and traffic in the city.

Mr Keegan said he was confident the new application would be approved by the board, even though it would still require buses to be banned from crossing College Green to access Dame Street.

The council has been preparing plans for the plaza since 2015 and has said the creation of the traffic-free space was essential to the smooth running of the Luas Green line that began operations through the city centre two years ago.

Prime Property for PREM

The Prem Group is to open a new flagship aparthotel in Amsterdam.

The Premier Suites Plus Amsterdam will be a luxury offering located in the business area of Zuidas and is the company's highest-spec premises to date.

Prem Group has taken a long-term lease in the Hourglass Building, which is currently under construction and is expected to become a landmark building in the district due to its distinctive design. Prem Group is investing €2.5m in the fit-out.

CEO Jim Murphy said this property is taking the group's accommodation "to another level".

'King of Beaujolais' passes away

Georges Duboeuf, who has died aged 86, was known as "le roi du Beaujolais" and was credited with turning Beaujolais Nouveau, a drink once handed out for nothing on village georges

streets, into a major product.

In the 1970s, Duboeuf, who had set up his own production company, Les Vins Georges Duboeuf, in 1964, was looking for a new idea to steal a march on his rivals. He noticed how villages in Beaujolais had taken to celebrating each new harvest by sploshing raw wine into the goblets of vineyard workers and passers-by.

The merriment of the occasion made up for the new wine's shortcomings, and the practice spread to the streets of Lyon and even to Paris, where from the 1950s there was an annual race among restaurateurs to get their hands on the first bottles.