Aer Lingus’ specially branded Airbus A320 looked good as she took off with the Irish Rugby Team onboard. Best of luck to the Ireland rugby squad as they jet off to France on a specially chartered Aer Lingus flight to compete against the best rugby nations in the world.
The specially branded Airbus A320, Green Spirit, departed Dublin at 12 noon and was flown by Captain Caolan Flanagan, who attended the same school as Ireland rugby captain, Johnny Sexton.
Aer Lingus will bring Home Advantage to France
Aer Lingus has brought Home Advantage to Ireland Rugby matches since 2015 when it first became the official airline sponsor of Irish Rugby*. Since then, it has assisted travel for the men’s team from Ireland to all key tournaments where possible such as the 2015 and 2019 tournaments in England and Japan, supporting travel to away games for Guinness Six Nations tournaments as well as supporting the women’s team with travel to the Tik Tok Women’s Six Nations and training camps.
Aer Lingus to fly tens of thousands to France during the Tournament
The airline expects tens of thousands of Ireland supporters to fly to France throughout the duration of the tournament.
The team and management including coaches Andy Farrell, Mike Catt, Simon Easterby, John Fogarty, and Paul O’Connell, ambassadors Johnny Sexton, Tadhg Furlong, Robbie Henshaw and Josh van der Flier were photographed boarding the plane ahead of their departure to Paris.
Susanne Carberry, Aer Lingus Chief Customer Officer, said; “Our partnership with the Ireland Rugby team is one that we are immensely proud of and today is a day of excitement and anticipation as we bring the team to France to compete on the world stage. A World Cup, and especially one as close to home as this one, brings a special kind of energy to everyone in Aer Lingus and I know that our flights to France throughout September and October will be filled with a sense of optimism and belief as we fly home advantage to France.”
Jessica Long, IRFU Head of Commercial commented: “There is great excitement across Irish rugby ahead of the Rugby World Cup and we are delighted to partner with our long-standing official airline Aer Lingus in helping the team get there safely. On behalf of the IRFU we thank Aer Lingus for their great support and wish all of our travelling supporters a ‘Bon Voyage’ in the weeks ahead.”
Aer Lingus will operate up to 140 flights weekly to France throughout September and October across 13 routes**. Additional flights have been added to destinations including Nantes, Bordeaux and Paris and given the demand among Irish fans to travel to France, some flights will be operated by a larger A330 aircraft which would typically fly to North America. The airline also recently announced it will be operating flights to Paris from both Shannon and Cork airports from September 22nd boosting regional connectivity for travelling fans.
*As official airline sponsor to Irish Rugby Aer Lingus supports travel to both international men’s and women’s teams
**French routes
- Paris (CDG) [Dublin, Cork, Shannon]
- Bordeaux (BOD)
- Brest (BES) [Operated by Emerald Airlines]
- Lyon (LYS)
- Marseille (MRS)
- Montpellier (MPL)
- Nantes (NTE)
- Nice (NCE)
- Perpignan (PGF)
- Rennes (RNS) [Operated by Emerald Airlines]
- Toulouse (TLS)
