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News / 17 Transatlantic Routes: Inside Aer Lingus’ record summer offering
Here is what the airline is planning
Aer Lingus will have 17 routes to the US and Canada next summer, more than ever. A decade ago, it had only six, and 16 in summer 2019. Aer Lingus will have up to 21 departing transatlantic flights daily.
17 Aer Lingus US/Canada routes
Next summer, 13 of its 17 US and Canada routes will be from Dublin, helped by the return of Hartford and its brand-new Cleveland service, although Minneapolis continues to be suspended. It is unclear if or when it'll return. Meanwhile, Shannon and Manchester have two routes each. Note that Miami is winter-seasonal.
Routing | Summer 2023 flights (maximum in the season) | Aircraft |
|---|---|---|
Dublin-New York JFK | 2 daily | A330-300 |
Dublin-Chicago O'Hare | 2 daily | A330-300 |
Dublin-Boston | 2 daily | A330-300 |
Dublin-Washington Dulles | 2 daily | A321LR |
Dublin-Hartford (resumes March 26th) | 1 daily | A321LR |
Dublin-Los Angeles | 1 daily | A330-300 |
Dublin-Newark | 1 daily | A321LR |
Dublin-Philadelphia | 1 daily | A321LR |
Dublin-San Francisco | 1 daily | A330-300 |
Dublin-Seattle | 1 daily | A330-200 |
Dublin-Toronto | 1 daily | A330-200 |
Manchester-New York JFK | 1 daily | A321LR until end Apr, then A330-200 |
Manchester-Orlando | 1 daily | A330-300 |
Shannon-Boston | 1 daily | A321LR |
Shannon-New York JFK | 1 daily | A321LR |
Dublin-Orlando | 6 weekly | A330-300 |
Dublin-Cleveland (starts May 19th) | 4 weekly | A321LR |
Where Aer Lingus' US passengers go
The most recent data to which I have access is for July 2022. Consequently, for better insight, I've decided to look at where Aer Lingus US passengers go by visiting data from 2019.
According to the US Department of Transportation, Aer Lingus carried about 2.4 million roundtrip US passengers in 2019. It had 2.8 million seats for sale, meaning an average seat load factor of 85%. This hides much monthly variation. In June, its SLF was 95%, while it was just 67% in February.
Relating DOT information to booking data reveals where passengers went:
- About 1.1 million (46%) were point-to-point (they didn't transit)
- An estimated 951,000 (41%) transited Dublin/Shannon onto other Aer Lingus flights
- Approximately 271,000 (9%) traveled to/from Dublin/Shannon and connected in the US to other flights
- Around 110,000 (4%) 'bridged' (they transited both a US airport and Dublin/Shannon)
Point-to-point versus transit
As transit passengers are typically lower-yielding and more expensive to carry than point-to-point, the balance between both is crucial. Ideally, an airline really wants a higher proportion of P2P traffic, supplemented by those connecting – not the other way around. If the first and third areas above are combined, 55% of Aer Lingus' total US traffic went to/from Ireland, a pretty good proportion.
As for those transiting, booking data shows more passengers flew Bristol over Dublin to/from Newark than anywhere else. Then it was Birmingham-Newark, Manchester-Chicago, Amsterdam-Boston, Rome-Chicago, Manchester-Boston, Rome-Boston, Amsterdam-Chicago, Heathrow-Washington Dulles, and Paris CDG-Chicago. Happily for Aer Lingus, Manchester-JFK didn't feature, hopefully meaning that cannibalization on its new Manchester-JFK is pretty minimal.
