Through their linked networks, Aer Lingus, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Japan Air System will bring this summer the Irish national football team from Dublin, via Amsterdam to the World Cup Football in Japan and South Korea. The famous Green Team will later be followed on the same route by hundreds of officials, supporters and journalists.
On May 17 the Irish Team will fly on Aer Lingus flight EI 604 from Dublin to Amsterdam. Additional KLM flight KL 861 will bring them to Tokyo. Finally the team will fly on with Northwest Airlines flight NW 76 on May 18 from Tokyo to Saipan on the Northern Mariana Islands, where the Irish players will have their first camp.
During the tournement the team will also use Japan Air Systems's domestic routenet and Northwest Airlines' intense regional network to fly between the participating cities. In the days after May 17 many fans, journalists and officials will use the same route to join their favorite team in the tournament.
Up till now already more than 350 passengers have booked on the global network of KLM and partner airlines to travel between Ireland and Japan alone for the preparations and Ireland's first match against Cameroon on June the 1st in Niigata.
KLM and Northwest Airlines form the most integrated and successful transatlantic alliance with a global network. Both Aer Lingus and Japan Air System are codeshare partners for the alliance. "It was the global network and seamless service that our alliance can offer, which helped us to win this prestigious and lucrative contract", says KLM's regional manager for Ireland, Margaret Shannon. "I am convinced that the Aer Lingus/JAS/Northwest/KLM team will help the Irish Team and their fans to arrive in best shape at the World Cup
Tournement." |
