Ireland (Irish: Éire; Ulster Scots: Airlann) is the third largest island in Europe behind Great Britain and Iceland. It is also the twentieth largest in the world. It lies to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain. Politically, the Republic of Ireland (also known simply as Ireland) covers five sixths of the island, with Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, covering the remainder in the northeast. The name 'Ireland' derives from Old Irish Ériu (in modern Irish, Éire) with the addition of the Germanic word 'land'. This word, from Proto-Celtic *Īwerjū, which also gave Middle Welsh Iwerd "Irish Sea", originally meant "fatness", in the sense of fertile.

The population of the island is slightly under six million (2006/7), with almost 4.25 million in the Republic of Ireland (1.7 million in Greater Dublin) and an estimated 1.75 million in Northern Ireland (0.6 million in Greater Belfast ). Source: wikipedia.org

Aer Arann is a regional airline based in Dublin, Ireland. It operates scheduled and charter services to eight destinations in Ireland, four in France and twelve in the United Kingdom, as well as Jersey. Its main base is Dublin Airport, with hubs at Cork Airport, Galway Airport and Waterford Airport. Source: Wikipedia.org http://www.aerarann.com/

Aer Lingus Limited is the flag carrier of Ireland. Based at Dublin Airport, it operates 41 Airbus aircraft serving Europe, Africa and North America. The airline is 29.4% owned by Ryanair and 25.4% owned by the Irish government; it was floated on the Dublin and London Stock Exchanges on 2 October 2006, following prior government approval (the government previously owned 85% of the airline). Aer Lingus is a former member of the Oneworld airline alliance, which it left on 31 March 2007. The company employs 4,000 people and has revenue of €1.3 billion as of 2007. Its motto is Enjoy your flight. Aer Lingus transferred 9.3 million passengers in 2007. Aer Lingus has its own frequent flyer programme, the Gold Circle Club programme, featuring three tiers - Gold, Prestige and Elite. Source: Wikipedia.org http://www.aerlingus.com

Ryanair (ISEQ: RYA, LSE: RYA, NASDAQ: RYAAY) is an Irish airline with headquarters in Dublin and its biggest operational base at London Stansted Airport in the UK. It is Europe's largest low-cost carrier.

Ryanair operates around 716 routes across Europe and North Africa from 28 bases. The airline has been characterised by rapid expansion, a result of the deregulation of the air industry in Europe in 1997. Ryanair is the third largest airline in Europe in terms of passenger numbers and the world's largest in terms of international passenger numbers.