Aer Lingus has just revealed its first new long haul route for 2026. I’m a big fan of how Aer Lingus keeps expanding to secondary markets in the United States, since that’s great in terms of connectivity…
Continue reading: Aer Lingus Launching Dublin To Raleigh Durham Flights As Of April 2026
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
New plane for Nashville is horrible for transatlantic flights! No room whatsoever for passengers never mind the crew!
Wonderful addition!
What’s funny is Delta executives mentioning moderation in the main cabin to Europe, while there has been a healthy amount of new flights to secondary transatlantic getaways such as Raleigh, Nashville and Others through Iceland Air and Air Linguis especially.
This means some customers who would have taken a legacy US carrier will now be taking a different carrier.
RDU currently has flights to LHR on American, FRA on Lufthansa, CDG on Air France, and KEF on Icand Air. So this is definitely a welcome addition.
I wonder how we'll see the JV manage the LHR vs DUB flights together. Seems like DUB could handle a lot of the easy short hops to Europe with lower O&D while LHR can focus more on O&D and some of the long haul connections.
in addition to what Aaron said, DL has access to industry data and knows how what it sees fits in with what other carriers are seeing.
DL did say that they are more than making up for the softening of peak summer economy cabin demand w/ demand elsewhere that is just as strong if not stronger. They just didn't say what other pieces other than corporate (which they said is strong) and how those pieces balance each other.
and DL has credibility w/ industry analysts because they speak to trends in the industry rather than talking incessantly about taking out the competition. Let's see what other airlines say from both sides of the Atlantic. IAG is a publicly traded company so gets similar questions and has to answer questions posed to it just as truthfully and honestly as DL does in the US.
Dublin is not only the gateway to Ireland (fascinating destination) but also to/from the UK. The UK and Ireland have an open travel agreement (like the Schengen zone), so once you enter ne you should be good for the rest of your trip. And, if you depart via DUB not only can you take care of US customs/immigration at the DHS facility in Dublin but you can also dodge the UK's confiscatory air passenger duty on departures.
Been waiting for this one. Makes a lot of sense. and UNC is playing football in Dublin next September in the Aer Lingus classic so figured this would be announced to start next year.
The free movement of the CTA (Common Travel Area) only applies to Irish & UK citizens, so entry to Ireland does not automatically guarantee entry to the UK if connecting via DUB for example.
An interesting article comparison …. Aer Lingus are reported to fly the A321 with true Business Class seats and layout. However, Delta will present the aircraft with a cabin to be called “First Class”. In reality the Delta offering will be little more than a premium economy cabin layout with last century business class seats.
Hypocrisy, miss information, or, just more mind games for the gimmers and hoggets?
We flew from the USA to DUB, spent the night then flew on to MAN. That was treated as a domestic flight. As Americans, we were treated no differently than those from IRL or the UK.
Further, there are no checks on the border between IRL and NI or on ferries between Ireland and the UK.
Aer Lingus really found success in the US secondary markets especially with the A321LR/XLR. I wonder what's next for them? I can maybe see MSY, MCI, DTW & PIT in the cards at some point if we're looking at other mid-sized cities that they currently do not serve.
RDU is a really good fit for the transatlantic JV in my opinion. American has dominated North Carolina, but Charlotte is pretty congested these days (especially international flights in my experience). Having more direct flights to hubs in Europe for interchanging there lets them compete better with Deltas new focus at Rayleigh.
As with most border things between Ireland, Northern Ireland and UK, afraid it is a little more nuanced and complex than that. It may seem like your flight was treated as a domestic flight, but it wasn't for immigration purposes. jg is right that CTA applies only to Irish & UK citizens. If you are a non-visa national (eg USA) you are treated to have "Deemed Leave to Enter" when entering the UK. Similar for Channel Islands too.
While border checks on flights and ferries between UK and Ireland are not routine, they can occur and while UK and Irish citizens do not need to show a passport, only ID, for those checks, all non-citizens are required to show a passport if asked. Flights come through a CTA lane and are subject to HM Customs; they do not come through the same area as a domestic flight which is not subject to HM Customer. Although for the most part, passport checks do not routinely occur in the CTA lane. Border checks at the NI land border can never occur due to the Good Friday Agreement.
Biggest reason is that oneworld requires airlines to offer business class on short haul, which Aer Lingus does not do.
Prior to IAG acquisition, short haul was effectively changed to low cost model to compete with Ryanair which was biggest competitor in Dublin. The cost of changing their European model together with the IT changes and fees means the business case doesn't exist. Same reason Vueling doesn't join, nor Jetstar.
John, Eskimo or whichever troll login you are hiding behind today ….
You are one of those who post herein that appear not to be aware of one of the idiosyncrasies of the website. People who know, people who have something to contribute to a blog thread, tend to offer the readership the simple courtesy of annotating their comment to the intended recipient. In such a way one knows if the comment is serious, or, just another website troll wasting everyone’s time.
Simply repeating a one word comment shows your complete lack of breeding, your ignorance and your total lack of any self respect.
Perhaps Ben’s website host will update the script to include an automated response notation to accommodate those like you who are too lazy to bother themselves.