Property in Dordogne arrives on Ireland's doorstep

AT A PRESS conference fittingly held at an Irish pub in Perigeux in the Dordogne yesterday, the chairman of ICC announced that Belfast will join the list of destinations from Bergerac airport.

Starting next Tuesday Flybe will fly twice a week to Belfast from Bergerac via Exeter and Southhampton.

Arguably the Belfast route is not a new one in that it's effectively a connection from the two UK airports but the route came about due to a large increase in demand from people in Northern Ireland.

Most are said to own second homes or are looking for property in Dordogne. The point is that for the first time ever the Dordogne is accessible to people in Northern Ireland.

Depending on connections in the UK a one way trip is likely to take four or five hours. The cost is expected to be around 200 euros.

This Belfast link brings to 14 the number of routes from Bergerac airport with demand increasing all the time from countries such as Spain, Italy, Germany and Poland.

More than 300,000 passengers are expected to pass through Bergerac airport this year. 

Bergerac is a departmental airport. This means that is belongs to the Dordogne and the department foots 49% of the cost of running the airport.

Last year the department took over 14 million euros in revenues from duties and airport taxes.