Ireland flights ‘on hold’

The falling dollar, rising fuel costs and difficulty in finding an airline have put flights from Mid-America St. Louis Airport to Ireland “on hold.”

St. Clair County officials had reached a deal with an tour operator earlier this year to run ten charter flights between the Mascoutah airport and Shannon, Ireland this summer. But the tour operator, Kenny Tours of Salisbury, Maryland, told the airport Thursday that the flights would not take place.

Kenny blamed “difficulty in securing a carrier, coupled with the weak dollar and the increase in fuel costs,” according to a statement from MidAmerica. While Irish tour operators had originally agreed to buy 25 percent of seats on the flight, when it came time to confirm the agreement, the tour operators dropped that commitment to 5 percent. Without those pre-sales, the flights were deemed to be financially risky.

St. Clair County Board chairman Mark Kern said he was “disappointed,” but hopeful that the flights could launch next year.