Aer Lingus has announced its 2018 Dublin summer schedule that includes a new US destination, Philadelphia, operating four times per week direct from Dublin from 25th March 2018. Philadelphia is the ninth most visited city in the USA and receives over 30 million domestic and international visitors annually.
Fares to Philadelphia start from €199 each-way including taxes and charges, when booked as a return trip. Fares to Europe for summer 2018 start from €34.99 one-way including taxes and charges.
The latest route expansion comes on the back of an IAG investment in new aircraft, with Aer Lingus taking delivery of four new long-haul aircraft in the past 24 months, enabling the introduction of four new transatlantic routes, Los Angeles, Newark, Hartford, and Miami, and now Philadelphia.
Largest Ever Transatlantic Network
Summer 2018 will mark the airline’s largest ever long-haul programme with 177,000 additional seats across the Atlantic over the summer season. Aer Lingus’s total capacity to and from North America for 2018 will reach 2.75 million seats. Additional transatlantic expansion includes a daily service to both San Francisco and Los Angeles on the US West Coast, as well as twice daily flights to Chicago.
Miami, which was launched as a new route in late summer 2017 and subsequently as a new winter route, will continue into next summer, operating three times per week. Miami combined with Orlando, operating four times weekly, will offer a direct connection from Ireland to Florida every day for summer 2018. Washington will continue to operate daily for summer but on a larger Airbus A330-300 series aircraft, for four out of seven days, providing 31% additional seats on the route.
North Atlantic Gateway Strategy
Aer Lingus continues to drive its strategy of expanding its Dublin Airport base into a major European transatlantic gateway. For visitors travelling from Philadelphia next summer, Aer Lingus offers seamless connections to 21 key European destinations via Dublin. Equally the convenience of US Customs and Border Protection services at Dublin make it an attractive proposition when crossing the Atlantic from Ireland.
On the strength of its connectivity to North America, Dublin Airport holds fifth position on the league table of European transatlantic airports in 2016, having jumped from 11th position in 2010. Aer Lingus has ambitious growth targets for its transatlantic gateway and will add eight Airbus A321 Long Range aircraft to its fleet in 2019 and 2020 to support further transatlantic route launches in the coming years.
2018 Summer Sun
Aer Lingus’s European network remains focused on summer sun with 945,000 seats to Spain, 310,000 seats to the Canary Islands, and 495,000 seats to Portugal. Malaga continues to be one of the most popular choices for Irish sun seekers and will have 11,000 additional seats from Dublin in summer 2018.
Additional key short-haul growth routes include Bordeaux (19,000 extra seats), Lyon (22,000 extra seats), Lisbon (11,000 extra seats), Rome (12,000 extra seats), Prague (18,000 extra seats) and Vienna (21,000 extra seats), among others.
Mike Rutter, Chief Operating Officer, said: “We are delighted to announce Philadelphia as our new route for summer 2018. We are proud to continue to deliver on our promise to grow our transatlantic network and further strengthen Dublin Airport as a leading gateway to North America. We are delighted to be delivering on the growth opportunities that being part of International Airlines Group has presented over the past two years. The introduction of Philadelphia comes on the back of the four new routes announced in the last two years, namely Los Angeles, Newark, Hartford, and Miami. Each new Aer Lingus transatlantic route opens up new tourism and business opportunities and builds connectively to the Dublin Gateway.
“As Ireland’s only 4-star airline the experience we offer our guests is at the core of everything we do and shapes the future of our airline. Our short-haul network has increased capacity on popular sun routes such as Malaga and the Canary Islands, as well as greater frequency to popular European cities destinations such as Lisbon, Hamburg, Prague, Vienna and Bilbao.
Chellie Cameron, Chief Executive, Philadelphia Airport, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Aer Lingus to PHL and look forward to offering more non-stop, year-round service to Dublin. This capital city is a gateway to the beautiful country of Ireland, Europe and beyond. We are proud to expand our non-stop international service and we are excited to enhance travel between Ireland and Philadelphia.”
