Irish Firm To Offer New Boeing Jetfoil Service

Jetlink Ferries Limited of Dublin, Ireland, has announced it will begin Boeing Jetfoil service across the English Channel from Brighton, England, to Dieppe, France, in May 1979, under the name SEAJET.

This is the second Jetfoil service for Europe to be announced this year, and the fourth purchase of the new Boeing Jetfoil model 929-115. Nine 929-100 model Jetfoils are already in service worldwide. The new model has increased payload capability and improved maintainability and reliability features.

Jetlink also holds an option on a second Jetfoil. They plan a two-Jetfoil operation in 1980.

The first craft is being purchased by Associated Newspapers Group of London, England.

They will also hold a substantial part of the equity in the operating company to whom the Jetfoil will be leased.

Earlier this year B + I Lines of Dublin announced the purchase of a Jetfoil to begin operation from Dublin to Liverpool, England, in April 1980. Sado Kisen Kaisha of Niigata, Japan, purchased a new model Jetfoil in April to add to their present Jetfoil service in the Sea of Japan. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom will receive a Jetfoil in late 1979 for use in North Sea fisheries protection.

The SEAJET service will carry 285 passengers the 68-nautical-mile distance from Brighton to Dieppe in just over one and a half hours. Total value of the order, including spares, operational and maintenance training and shipping is approximately §12 million.

Other Boeing Jetfoils are in service in Hong Kong and Venezuela. The Jetfoil's unique combination of fully submerged foils, automatic computer control and water jet propulsion gives passengers a smooth ride at 43 knots (50 mph) even in rough water.

The SEAJET service is expected to create substantial new markets not only from the existing high levels of tourists in both Brighton and Dieppe, but also from the business travel section. Both locations are served by high-speed rail services from London and Paris and also enjoy excellent fast road links with the capitals.

John Coote, a Jetlink Ferries executive, said the SEAJET service "would be able to move vacationers, businessmen and visitors from Brighton to Dieppe in style and comfort at budget prices.

"From the research we have carried out, it seems certain that SEAJET will be one of the great success stories in both British and French tourist industries," he said.

Other stories from November 1978 issue

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