Aer Lingus has been growing their US route network significantly the past few years, in a steady but consistent way:
- Just last month Aer Lingus added flights to Miami
- In 2016 Aer Lingus added flights to Los Angeles, Hartford, and Newark
- In 2015 Aer Lingus added frequencies to New York and San Francisco, and added a new route to Washington Dulles
- In 2014 Aer Lingus added flights to Toronto and San Francisco
Aer Lingus has just announced their next US destination, which is already bookable. Aer Lingus will begin flying 4x weekly between Dublin and Philadelphia as of March 26, 2018. The route will operate with the following schedule on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays:
EI115 Dublin to Philadelphia departing 1:50PM arriving 4:15PM
EI114 Philadelphia to Dublin departing 5:30PM arriving 5:10AM (+1 day)
The flight will cover a distance of ~3,270 miles in each direction, and is blocked at 6hr40min eastbound and 7hr25min westbound.
This new route will be operated by one of Aer Lingus’ leased 757-200s, featuring 12 business class seats and 165 economy seats. In business class Aer Lingus has an impressive fully flat product, with two rows featuring a 2-2 configuration, and two rows featuring a 1-1 configuration.
Philadelphia seems like a “safe” choice for Aer Lingus to expand to. The flight between Philadelphia and Dublin is short, and the city (and suburbs) has a big Irish population.
American also operates a daily flight using an A330 between Philadelphia and Dublin, so Aer Lingus does face some competition there. Eventually Aer Lingus is supposed to join oneworld, given that they’re owned by IAG, though it seems like that’s constantly being delayed. Late last year IAG’s CEO said that he wanted Aer Lingus to join the oneworld transatlantic joint venture by the end of 2017, though we haven’t heard anything about that in a while, so I’d assume it’s not happening for now.
If you’re looking to redeem miles on this flight, the best value is probably redeeming British Airways Executive Club Avios. This flight will cost you 20,000 Avios one-way in economy, or 60,000 Avios one-way in business class. Taxes and carrier imposed fees should be minimal.
Earlier this year Aer Lingus’ CEO said that the airline planned to add flights between Dublin and Las Vegas this winter. Further details haven’t yet been announced regarding that.
What do you make of Aer Lingus adding flights between Philadelphia and Dublin?
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