Aer Lingus is planning to launch a new direct service to Philadelphia from Dublin Airport.
The Irish airline will initially operate its year-round services four times per week, increasing to a daily service from May, 2018. The new service to Philadelphia will have onward connections from Dublin to 24 other cities including Berlin, Edinburgh, Brussels and Hamburg.
Commenting on the move, Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison said: ‘This is Aer Lingus’ 11th transatlantic route from Dublin Airport and we are delighted to see its route network go from strength to strength.’
‘I have no doubt Philadelphia will be a popular destination for both business and leisure passengers and will further boost trade and travel between Ireland and the US,’ he added.
Passengers travelling on Aer Lingus’ new service to Philadelphia will be able to use US Pre Clearance facilities at Dublin allowing passengers to save time on arrival in the US by completing all the necessary immigration and customs checks prior to departure. A pre- cleared passenger can avoid all queues on arrival in the US, excluding any final taxi service.
Aer Lingus’ new service to Philadelphia is the first of five new long-haul routes to launch this year at Dublin Airport. While Aer Lingus is set to launch a new Seattle route in the next few weeks, Air Canada will operate flights to Montreal, Cathay Pacific will launch a new direct route to Hong Kong and Hainan Airlines will start direct services to Beijing, Dublin Airport said.
‘Dublin Airport’s transatlantic traffic has doubled in the past five years and Dublin is now the fifth largest airport in Europe for North American connectivity after Heathrow, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam,’ Harrison noted.
Dublin Airport has flights to 195 destinations in 42 countries operated by more than 50 airlines.
More than 3.8 million passengers have travelled through Dublin Airport in the first two months of 2018, a five per cent increase on the first two months of last year, the airport said.
