St Patrick’s Day has always been a key attraction for visitors to Ireland but this 17th March Aer Lingus welcomed record numbers from North America to Ireland to soak up the celebrations, with visitor numbers up by more than one-third this St Patrick’s Day versus last year. Aer Lingus has also already reached one million transatlantic seat sales for this year, making 2017 the airline’s fastest year on record for transatlantic sales.
According to Aer Lingus, it is stateside visitors that account for the largest spike in numbers, with one-third more travelling from North America this year versus last year. Cities such as Boston and New York continue to drive strong numbers to Ireland, but there has been a significant increase in visitors from other cities such as Orlando and Chicago.
Declan Kearney, Director of Communications, Aer Lingus said: “Celebrating St Patrick’s Day in Ireland, particularly Dublin, is on the bucket list for many people all over the globe but we know that it’s a huge attraction for our American visitors and we were delighted to welcome record numbers to Ireland this year.
“We are Ireland’s only 4-star airline connecting Ireland to North America and we currently fly to 11 North American destinations, having added three new routes last year – Hartford, Newark and Los Angeles. We pride ourselves on offering genuine Irish hospitality onboard, which for many visitors marks the beginning of their holiday in Ireland, and in the days leading up to St Patrick’s Day we trust that our warm welcome onboard got the festivities off to a great start.”
This summer Aer Lingus will operate 13 routes between Ireland and North America flying to popular cities including New York and Boston from Dublin and Shannon together with Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco, Washington DC, Chicago, Orlando, Newark (New Jersey) and Hartford (Connecticut) from Dublin, as well as the airline’s new direct route from Dublin to Miami in September 2017.
All Aer Lingus transatlantic fares have the added bonus of being all-inclusive, offering free 23kg baggage allowance, complimentary meal and drinks during the flight, and not forgetting 120 hours of endless entertainment via the very latest inflight entertainment system. Aer Lingus passengers can also enjoy US Customs and Border pre-clearance at Dublin and Shannon Airports in one quick and easy procedure, ensuring that their arrival into the USA is speedy and queue-free.
Fares to North America start from €209.
