Aer Lingus today announced plans to relaunch its services to Minneapolis-St Paul, as well as launch a new service to Denver, Colorado.
The new routes will launch as part of the Summer 2024 flight programme. This will bring the total number of Aer Lingus routes operated between Ireland and North America to 18.
This strategic expansion reflects the airline’s commitment to its Dublin Hub strategy, not just between Ireland and North America, but also offering seamless connections to Europe.
Minneapolis-St Paul
Flights to Minneapolis-St Paul commence on the 29th of April 2024, increasing from four times weekly to a daily year-round service from next October.
The route will be operated by an Airbus A330 to start with, scaling to a planned launch for the Airbus A321XLR in Winter 2024.
Dublin – Denver flights, which will also operate four times a week, will begin on 17th May 2024, operating with an Airbus A330.
Passengers departing from these cities can also enjoy the convenience of onward connections to 20 European cities via Dublin.
In Quotes
Aer Lingus Chief Executive, Lynne Embleton said:
“With Dublin’s geographic position as the gateway to Europe, pre-clearance facilities at the airport and the strong, long established Irish American ties, Aer Lingus is ideally placed to connect people and places across the Atlantic.”
“Denver and Minneapolis-St Paul are significant business destinations within the US and the new Aer Lingus routes facilitate corporate links and connectivity between Europe and North America, through our Dublin Hub. Denver’s position as the ‘Gateway to the Rockies’ and its outdoor appeal, from world class skiing to hiking, opens up a whole new US experience to leisure travellers from Ireland and Europe.”
“This summer has been our biggest yet, with 2.25 million seats to North America and the successful addition of Cleveland, Ohio to our network. We are confident in our growth strategy and look forward to welcoming customers onboard these two new routes next year.’’
Relying on US Growth
It seems that Aer Lingus is full feet-in with its Transatlantic hub strategy, growing its North American network, whilst having everyone feed through Dublin Airport in the form of connecting traffic.
Providing the airline can maintain a quality of service and a price advantage for that transfer (when there are options to both Minneapolis-St Paul and Denver), it should attract passengers.
Although Aer Lingus did give us a glimpse of its A321XLR plans – with long and thin routes like Minneapolis-St Paul ripe for this operation.
We’ll have to see if Airbus deliver the goods in time.
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Aer Lingus out of MSP was a solid option for travelers pre-covid. It’s good to see that coming back and providing some alternative to Delta/Air France/KLM.