Aer Lingus, along with Visit Denver and Visit Colorado hosted members of the trade last night in
NoLita to celebrate the launch of their new flight from Dublin to Denver commencing on 17th May 2024.
Her Excellency, Claire Cronin, US Ambassador to Ireland spoke at the beginning and mentioned that this flight will ‘build and support the relationship between our two countries’ and ‘as a result of this, we will have more entrepreneurs flying from Dublin to Denver, more students and more tourists’. The Ambassador continued to say that the number of Irish tourists visiting the United States exceeded that of the same month in 2019. This is great to see in the recovery from the pandemic. Ambassador Cronin is excited to try the route herself later this year.
Aer Lingus has been connecting Ireland to the United States for 65 years and Bill Byrne, Senior Vice President of Global Sales for Aer Lingus, spoke about how proud he was that the airline connect to so many cities across the States. Now with the new Dublin-Denver route, Mr Byrne said ‘it connects a tech-savvy, scientific community that’s Denver, with the beautiful scenery of Colorado. He spoke about how while you’re on board you’ll have their award-winning four-star Skytrak service and the Irish welcome from the cabin crew.
Andrea Blankenship, Director of International Tourism for Colorado Tourism Office has been with the tourism office for about seven years and is really excited about the new route to connect Dublin to Colorado. Ms Blankenship spoke about all of the wonderful things that people will experience when they visit Colorado saying ‘We’ve got the wide open spaces, we’ve got the arts and culture, we have lovely Western hospitality’ and she looks forward to welcoming everyone to the state soon.
Lisa Bruening, Senior Tourism Sales Manager Visit Denver has been coming to Dublin for years to promote the destination of Denver, so is thrilled with the new route. Denver is known as the Mile High City because they are one mile in elevation above sea level. But, Ms Bruening said ‘We also have 300 days of sunshine, art and culture, six professional sports teams, tons of live music and our iconic red rocks park in the amphitheatre.’ So there’s definitely a lot to do in Denver for multiple different nights.
The night continued with many fun opportunities with a photo booth and a caricaturist on hand to provide entertainment. And of course, an amazing prize of flights from Aer Lingus on the new route with accommodation and culture pass in the mile-high city. Congratulations to Gillian Purser of Marble City Travel who won this incredible prize.
With all the connections, travel agents have been used to selling the East Coast and west Coast of America and Clare Dunne, CEO of ITAA, said that the new route opens the opportunity to really explore the US and sell parts of it that clients don’t normally get to see. She thanked Ivan and the team at Aer Lingus for hosting the event and congratulated them and the destination on the new route.
The new Dublin to Denver route commences on 17th May 2024 and will have four weekly flights.
