Aer Lingus has announced its 2018 UK summer schedule which boasts 3.7 million seats between UK and Ireland and seamless connections to 13 North American destinations including a new service to Seattle, Washington State.
As Ireland’s first ever direct service to the Emerald City operating four times weekly from May 18th, 2018, this new route offers connections from 12 UK cities including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
This summer Aer Lingus’ short haul schedule boasts 3.7 million seats, including Aer Lingus Regional services operated by Stobart Air, and serves a total of 25 routes between UK and Ireland.
Mainline services connecting from London, Manchester, and Birmingham will enjoy an additional 41,000 seats and between London and Ireland (flying into Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Knock) there are a total 1.7 million seats for summer 2018.
Since joining IAG in 2015, Aer Lingus has launched six new direct transatlantic services, marking the largest ever transatlantic expansion in the airline’s history.
Seattle adds 50,000 additional seats to the airline’s transatlantic programme for summer 2018, with total 2018 transatlantic capacity now reaching more than 2.75 million seats.
Aer Lingus transatlantic services offer both business and economy class and give UK travellers the convenience of pre-clearing US Customs and Immigration at Dublin Airport before stepping on board their flight to North America.
Via Dublin Aer Lingus offer seamless connections to New York JFK, Hartford, Newark, Boston, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orlando, Miami, Toronto and new routes Philadelphia and Seattle.
As a result of this record transatlantic growth 600 new jobs have been created at Aer Lingus.
Last month saw the launch of a pilot recruitment drive to hire 200 pilots over the next three years and almost 3,000 applications were received for the first wave of 100 positions in October.
The airline’s fleet and employment will expand significantly over the next five years with the acquisition of Airbus A321Neo long-range aircraft from 2019.
This aircraft type will open up new markets, expand our network and enable a new growth phase for Aer Lingus.
From Seattle, Aer Lingus will offer 24 seamless connections, via the Dublin Gateway, to UK and European cities such as London, Paris, Rome, Brussels, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
British travellers will enjoy connections via Dublin to Seattle from cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Stephen Kavanagh, Aer Lingus chief executive, said: “We are delighted to announce our 2018 UK summer schedule which includes Seattle as our latest new transatlantic route.
“We believe this service will offer great value choices to our UK guests which boasts connections from 12 key cities including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
“Since joining International Airlines Group two years ago we have grown and strengthened our Dublin Gateway to North America and we look forward to continuing this development in the years to come.
“Our short haul schedule highlights our commitment to the UK serving 25 routes including key cities such as London, Manchester Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newquay.”