Hey everybody.
Aer Lingus announced a major expansion for next summer with increased frequencies on a number of routes plus the addition of routes from both Dublin and Cork.
The main highlight in my opionion is the introduction of a 3 times weekly service between Dublin and Athens. They also announced the re-introduction of Milan Malpensa to their network which comes just days after they pulled the DUB-BGY route and Alitalia axed their Malpensa service.
The new routes from Cork include Manchester, Madrid and Prague.
They will also increase the following routes to daily- Budapest, Geneva, Lisbon, Prague, Venice and Zurich as well as slight increases to Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, Dubrovnik, Krakow, Madrid, Naples, Nice, Rennes,Riga and Seville.
Cork will have increased frequencies to Faro, Heathrow and Birmingham.
On the long haul front their are no new routes but increased frequencies on a few. They will introduce 2 new A330s into the fleet which will enable them to operate double daily Dublin to Boston and Chicago with one flight on each route stopping in Shannon but now you can fly direct from Dublin to Boston the second Chicago flight will operate direct and the second DUB-SNN-ORD.
Dublin-New York will be 2 daily non-stop and Shannon will have it own non-stop service.
Dublin-Dubai will increase to 4 weekly and this route is already operating on a new schedule to make connections with partner Emirates alot easier the flight now departs mid evening ariving back in Dublin the following day at midday.
By: SHAMROCK321 - 3rd November 2006 at 10:46
The current Ireland/Canada air agreement is as strict as the Ireland/US one.
EI are not allowed to fly to Toronto as thats for Canaidian airlines lice AC,TSC and 5G.
EI can operate to Montreal but obviously it isnt a priority. Im sure 2/3 weekyl flights to YVR would fill up as AC got alot of YVR connections into DUB this summer.
By: MapleLeafYYZ - 2nd November 2006 at 17:02
I still say there is room for expansion in North America and using Dublin as the transit point. What about a flight from Ireland to the east coast of Canada, say Halifax. A very celtic group of people. Philadelphia? Although, maybe JFK covers that already. I would say YYZ but AC only seems to manage a summer service there.
By: shannon55 - 2nd November 2006 at 16:42
Does anyone see the re-introduction of the Orlando route at some stage?
By: SHAMROCK321 - 2nd November 2006 at 13:33
Yes they are really starting to turn DUB into a hub and spoke airport.
What does seem strange is that the 2 ORD flights-one direct and one via SNN leave 1 hour apart but neither allows enough time for passengers coming in on the early flights from FCO, BCN etc enough time to connect. I would have thought the second flight would leave 2-3 hours later?
They have an early arrival which allows connections like ORD-DUB-FCO but not the reverse. I wonder will they change it?
By: bmi-star - 1st November 2006 at 12:09
Superb news there for EI. I’ve really started to like their plan. Good to see a ORK-MAN service in there too!
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October 31, 2006 at 4:10 pm