JERICHO, NY—(Marketwired – May 21, 2015) – Aer Lingus today announced its schedule for Winter 2015/2016 including a further boost to its growing long haul business with a 13% increase in capacity compared to winter 2014/2015. The additional frequencies will serve demand over peak holiday travel, including Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The airline is also investing heavily in key European short haul routes. In all, an extra 275,000 seats will be available, representing Aer Lingus’ biggest growth in its winter schedule in the past 10 years.

MORE FLIGHTS FROM NORTH AMERICA

An extension to the four times weekly Washington D.C. (Dulles) to Dublin service to January 4, 2016
An increase in frequency on the New York to Dublin route from January through to March with 5% growth versus last winter
A double daily operation in November, December and March from Boston to Dublin with 19% capacity increase
Ten weekly services from Chicago to Dublin in November, December and March, up 18% on winter last year
Additional frequencies on flights from San Francisco and Orlando to Dublin over Christmas
Flights between Toronto and Dublin will continue throughout the winter with up to four weekly flights
Flights between Boston and Shannon will operate throughout the winter while flights between New York and Shannon will be suspended from early January to mid-March, recommencing in-time for demand over St Patrick’s Day
Enhanced connecting flows between North America and Europe meaning customers can choose from over 70 onward connections across Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe.
NEW EUROPEAN ROUTES

Aer Lingus is not only focussed on flying customers to and from Ireland but also on improving connectivity for those who wish to travel onwards. Customers connecting between the U.S. and Europe via Dublin this winter have more choice than before.

The Aer Lingus short haul expansion features increased frequencies on many popular European destinations in addition to improved timings on key high frequency business routes.

A new daily service between Dublin and Liverpool will commence October 23rd with a total of sixteen flights per week. This will significantly boost Aer Lingus’ presence in the UK’s North West region and strengthen the historic ties between the two cities. It adds further strength to Aer Lingus’ offering between Ireland and the UK, covering 19 UK airports and a total of 32 routes.

There are over five million short haul seats in the winter schedule, representing an increase of 5% growth year on year including;

10% more seats on Aer Lingus from Dublin to Manchester with up to six flights daily
14% more seats on Aer Lingus from Dublin to Birmingham with up to six flights daily, serving peak business traffic
15% growth on Dublin to Paris route with an additional prime evening business flight
5% growth on Dublin to Amsterdam service with up to five flights daily
Three flights daily between Dublin and Brussels with improved evening times to facilitate day return business customers
An extra 20% capacity will be added to the three times daily services between Shannon and London Heathrow. The route will be served by a larger aircraft, an Airbus A320, with an extra 25,000 seats available
Flights between Shannon and Lanzarote will operate throughout the winter with one service per week. This too will be served by a larger aircraft, increasing the number of seats available by 20%, adding 1,300 extra seats
Additional flights to Zurich and Geneva with 10% extra seats, to cover demand during ski season
Aer Lingus will move its flight services to Berlin Tegel airport, growing flight frequencies to 10 flights per week, representing 18% additional capacity
Up to 26 flights per week to the Canary Islands and Morocco, catering for demand over Christmas.
Aer Lingus Chief Revenue Officer, Mike Rutter said: The 2015 winter programme is driven by three major strategy goals. We continue to invest in growing long haul capacity by increasing capacity on current year round routes and making more routes available year round. It returns our short haul business to growth mode and represents our most significant investment in the sector for a decade. That short haul investment is concentrated on our Eurocities markets, with new routes and capacity increases in destinations like Liverpool. Paris, Amsterdam and Manchester where our ‘Smart Travel’ value proposition to both short haul and long haul connecting passengers is driving substantial growth. All of this will continue to drive Dublin’s position as Europe’s best value transatlantic hub. The strategy supports Aer Lingus’ strategy to provide greater access and choice for North American customers with an additional 70,000 transatlantic seats versus last winter and Irish customers with 250,000 seats available a week to and from Ireland. All of this provides greater choice to customers travelling between North America, Ireland, and Europe with seamless transfer options, making Aer Lingus the smarter choice.