A $1 million campaign has been launched by Tourism Ireland to promote direct flights from the US to Shannon Airport (SNN).

It is hoped that the marketing push will increase inbound leisure and business traffic, highlighting Shannon as the gateway to Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way tourism trail.

The airport currently has three nonstop connections from the US, with Aer Lingus operating daily service from Boston (BOS) and New York John F. Kennedy (JFK), and United Airlines providing a daily Newark Liberty (EWR) in New Jersey-Shannon route.

“We know from our research that there is significant pent-up demand among travelers here to return to Ireland,” Tourism Ireland head of North America Alison Metcalfe said.

The campaign will run until the end of November and features events for trade and media; digital outdoor adverts on billboards in Boston, New York and New Jersey; and activity with travel deal websites to highlight vacation packages on offer.

Irish heritage is strong in the US, with about one in 10 citizens claiming to have ancestors from Ireland. It is estimated that Irish Americans make up more than 22% of the population of the metropolitan Boston area, and about 21% of the population of Massachusetts.

According to data provided by Sabre Market Intelligence, O&D traffic between the US and Shannon totaled almost 250,000 two-way passengers in 2019, with New York-Shannon accounting for 57,700 passengers and Boston-Shannon accounting for 32,300.

Shannon was without regular scheduled US service during the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 until Aer Lingus resumed its routes to Boston and New York JFK this March. United also restarted its summer season Newark-Shannon flights in March, having last operated them in October 2019.