Aer Lingus has been aggressively expanding in the US ever since it was purchased by IAG. IAG is British Airways’ parent company, and also controls Vueling and Iberia. Aer Lingus has been trying to add new routes, and using Dublin as a base for people to arrive and depart Europe. The airline has been concentrating on adding routes to North America, and has recently announced various new destinations.
Aer Lingus’ Recent Push
As One Mile at a Time reports, Aer Lingus has been expanding into the US market since 2014. In that year, they added flights to Toronto and San Francisco. In 2015, they increased their frequencies to some markets, like New York and SFO. Last year, they continued by adding Los Angeles, Newark and Hartford. These flights are operated using their A330s, or wet leased 757s. The airline has a solid business class product, and is on my list of flights to try soon. This year, the airline will start flights to Miami from Dublin.
Aer Lingus Business Class (per Youtube)
Aer Lingus Continues US Expansion
The airline has announced recently that they will continue to expand in the US. Their newest destination will be Las Vegas. They plan to offer the winter-seasonal flights two or three times a week starting next winter. The airline will fly the route with their A330 aircraft. Winter season is low-demand time for Irish tourism, so it would make sense if the airline reduced frequencies somewhere else to feed this route. If the airline wanted to make it year round, we would have to see what is the airline’s plan moving forward.
Aer Lingus A330
Landing Thoughts
I am excited to see Aer Lingus expand to new markets in the US. The airline offers a solid product, and usually has cheap fares to Europe. This opens up competition and lowers prices for other carriers as well. I hope to see them expand further when they formally join oneworld later this year. An ideal flight for connecting passengers would be flying to Dallas, as American has a large hub their. Hopefully, we will see the two airlines codeshare. It will take a few months for the airline to integrate to the alliance. When they join the Transatlantic JV, we will see them expand further.
What do you think? Are you excited to see Aer Lingus expand? Where should they fly to next?
All images from Wikimedia Commons unless otherwise noted.
