Dublin's Transatlantic Market Continues to Expand

I had the honour of helping to launch Aer Lingus' new route from Dublin to Hartford, Connecticut last week.

The new route is one of 18 new services from Dublin Airport this year and is the third new transatlantic service opened by Aer Lingus this summer, following the launch of LA and Newark.

Hartford's Bradley International Airport is an excellent gateway to New England, as it's located close to southern Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. In the US, Aer Lingus is marketing the service as a convenient gateway to Europe as North American travellers can avail of onward connections to 28 British and continental European airports in cities such as London, Madrid, Barcelona, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Paris, Bristol and Berlin.

The new route is Hartford's only transatlantic service and Aer Lingus hopes to tap into strong demand on the US side for travel to Europe.

Working closely with Aer Lingus and other carriers, Dublin Airport has dramatically expanded its network to North America over the past five years, as Hartford is the 15th new transatlantic service to be launched since 2011. Aer Lingus has launched six of those new services and its transatlantic expansion this year was the largest since the airline began flying to the United States in 1958.

Boosted by these additional services, Dublin is now a significant North American gateway, and is the fifth largest airport in Europe for transatlantic connectivity. Last year the airport welcomed a record 2.4 million transatlantic passengers and numbers are up again this year. 

Dublin Airport has a unique selling proposition as a connecting point between Europe and North America. It has the perfect geographic position on the western edge of Europe, and is the only major airport in Europe with US pre-clearance. It also has a very strong long-haul and short-haul route network, and a quality transfer product.

Growing this transfer traffic has a hugely significant impact on the Irish economy since it provides a strong boost to overall Irish connectivity, which helps tourism and trade. A flow of transfer passengers in both directions underpins the viability of Aer Lingus' new routes to North America and also helps build the case for extra capacity on the airline's existing North America and European services from Dublin. 

Just 24 hours after the inaugural Aer Lingus service to Hartford, Delta Airlines announced that it was also expanding its Dublin operation. Delta will launch a new daily service to Boston next year, complimenting its existing services to Atlanta and JFK in New York.

Delta's Boston service becomes Dublin Airport's 16th new transatlantic route since 2011 and we're expecting more announcements shortly for the summer 2017 season.