Aer Lingus executives have been expressing interest in flying to Las Vegas since at least 2017, if not earlier. This route will finally become a reality as of this fall.
Aer Lingus will add Las Vegas route in October 2024
As of October 25, 2024, Aer Lingus will launch a new 3x weekly flight between Dublin (DUB) and Las Vegas (LAS). This will initially operate as a seasonal flight, and is bookable through April 29, 2025 (so that’s quite a long season). The service will operate with the following schedule:
EI51 Dublin to Las Vegas departing 3:20PM arriving 5:50PM
EI50 Las Vegas to Dublin departing 7:35PM arriving 1:10PM (+1 day)
The 4,954-mile flight is blocked at 10hr30min westbound and 9hr35min eastbound. Flights will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, in both directions. Aer Lingus will use an Airbus A330-300 for the route, featuring just under 300 seats, including 30 business class seats. While not cutting edge, I quite like Aer Lingus’ passenger experience in business class, and find the food to be decent, and crews friendly.
This new route to Nevada complements Aer Lingus’ existing flights from Dublin (DUB) to the United States, including to Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Cleveland (CLE), Denver (DEN), Hartford (BDL), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), Minneapolis (MSP), Newark (EWR), New York (JFK), Orlando (MCO), Philadelphia (PHL), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), and Washington (IAD).
I’m not sure I understand Aer Lingus’ route planning
I’ve gotta be honest, I can’t really make sense of how Aer Lingus chooses destinations at this point, especially when you consider how transatlantic leisure demand has evolved, and also when you consider that Aer Lingus is now in the oneworld transatlantic joint venture, and has ended its codeshare partnership with United.
Given how joint ventures typically work, there’s an element of revenue sharing between airlines, and airlines also coordinate schedules and fares. Yet Aer Lingus’ route network seems quite random.
For example, the airline has largely been adding service to hubs of competing alliances, like Denver and Minneapolis. You might think “oh, that’s probably smart.” Well, no.
Just a few weeks ago, Aer Lingus launched a new route to Minneapolis, and that seems to basically be dead immediately. The route was initially supposed to operate year-round, while the airline has already removed it from the schedule for both the upcoming winter season, as well as the 2025 summer season.
Now, admittedly when Aer Lingus announced its route, Delta matched, which probably contributed to this issue. But is Aer Lingus really surprised that Delta would defend itself at a fortress hub? I mean, I think we all saw that coming.
In this case, I suppose a winter seasonal service to Las Vegas isn’t the worst use of an aircraft, since there’s European demand for Las Vegas in winter. I am curious where Aer Lingus will send the plane in summer, though.
Could we see Aer Lingus integrate a little more into the oneworld joint venture by flying to hubs of partner airlines, whether it’s a flight to Charlotte (CLT), or Dallas (DFW), or Phoenix (PHX)? Or even Miami (MIA), which is only served seasonally 3x weekly, when it seems like there’s a lot of room for growth there?
I know Aer Lingus is largely targeting cities with decently sized Irish populations, but I’m not sure that’s necessarily a great route planning strategy nowadays.
The choices are all the more puzzling when you consider that Aer Lingus doesn’t really have room to grow at the moment. Not only is Dublin Airport facing passenger caps, but Aer Lingus management and pilots are currently in a dispute, and as a result, the airline is deferring Airbus A321XLR deliveries.
Bottom line
As of October 2024, Aer Lingus is launching a new 3x weekly flight between Dublin and Las Vegas. It’s certainly cool to see more transatlantic service to Las Vegas, though I still find this to be a strange choice. It seems like Aer Lingus is in a bit of a rut when it comes to route planning, given that the carrier appears to be canceling its new Minneapolis flight right out of the gate.
What do you make of Aer Lingus launching Dublin to Las Vegas flights?
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