THE LONG wait is over - the new Continental non-stop scheduled flight from Belfast to New York takes off on May 27, connecting Northern Ireland to the Big Apple and more than 160 destinations. The service departs Belfast International Airport at 9am daily and touches down in Newark Liberty International Airport seven hours and 25 minutes later. The flight arrives at 11.25am the same day giving travellers the opportunity to catch connecting flights to other US and Canadian flights, or simply hop on a
train for a 30-minute journey to Manhattan. The service will run daily through late spring and summer and will drop to four flights per week during the winter months, when demand traditionally declines.
Continental's Belfast-Newark flights will be operated with a 172-seat Boeing 757, carrying 156 economy seats and 16 passengers in the BusinessFirst cabin.

Prices for a return flight from Aldergrove to Newark with economy seats start at £452.60 while Business and First Class prices start at £3,673.60 return. With Continental's special offer for the month of
June, a return flight from Belfast to New York in economy will cost under £350 including taxes. The
airline is also offering flights from Belfast to Miami and Fort Lauderdale in Florida via Newark for under
£450 including taxes.

Barry Jackson, Continental Airline's Sales Manager for Northern Ireland is very pleased with sales of the new service. "We are very happy with the sales of the flights so far and we have found the sales of BusinessFirst particularly encouraging."Normally BusinessFirst travellers don't book far in
advance but the business class cabin is almost full through June, July and August," he said.
Continental serves more destinations than any other airline in the world and Barry Jackson urges Northern
Ireland consumers to take advantage of this."Customers travelling on the non-stop Belfast to New
York flight can take advantage of the 160 destinations Continental Airlines service from Newark including
Hawaii, Las Vegas and Rio," he added. Many travellers from the US are expected in the Province using the new service. Golf courses like Royal County Down and Portrush are very popular with American golfers and Belfast is becoming a much more frequented destination. Continental Airlines is the world's sixth largest
airline and operates more than 3,000 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Belfast is the airline's 21st city in its Europe and Middle East network.

BY ANDREA CLARKE