British Passengers Urged to take the Dublin Route

Dublin Airport and Aer Lingus have joined forces to kick off a marketing campaign to promote flying from Britain to North America via Dublin Airport.

Dublin is the only major airport in Europe to offer US preclearance, which allows passengers to save time on arrival in the US, by completing all of the necessary immigration and customs checks prior to departure.

Read our exclusive Routes Americas interview with Dublin Airport Aviation Business Development Manager, Stephen O’Reilly here.

Both Aer Lingus and Dublin airport will host roadshows in nine British cities over the next two months to showcase the excellent connectivity offered by the two companies, and the ease of transferring through Dublin.

The events will be held in cities such as Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and Cardiff to showcase the transatlantic product, and both companies will jointly attend a trade show in London to target the British travel trade sector. Events will kick off on February 4, 2015 with the first to be held in Bristol.

“Dublin Airport has been growing significantly as a transfer hub for passengers from Britain and continental Europe over the past three years,” said Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison. “Last year, a record 750,000 passengers used Dublin as a hub, which was a 34% increase on the previous year and we looking forward to welcoming even more transfer passengers in 2015.”

Aer Lingus currently offers connecting services from 19 British airports to its transatlantic network at Dublin Airport and will operate seven North American destinations from Dublin this summer.

To make the transfer experience even easier, Dublin Airport offers passengers free unlimited wifi and a free DUB HUB mobile service powered by Google, to guide passengers seamlessly to their gate, as well as offering live flight updates and information.

“Transferring at Dublin is a great product which British passengers are experiencing in growing numbers,” according to Mr Harrison. “These events will bring that message to a wider audience and we’re delighted to be working with Aer Lingus to promote Dublin as a transatlantic hub in the British market.”

According to Mr Harrison, using Dublin to connect is a faster, more efficient, and more pleasant option than connecting via a continental European airport, or by travelling by road or rail to a larger British Airport.

“Flying with Aer Lingus to North America via Dublin, saves money, saves time and saves stress versus London,” according to Aer Lingus Chief Revenue Officer, Mike Rutter. “Aer Lingus customers can enjoy the best in smart travel with access to wifi and mobile data on board and for the business traveller, we’ll have a new business class experience launching in the spring with full lie-flat seating.”

Last year, Aer Lingus launched new services from Dublin to San Francisco and Toronto and from May this year, a new four times weekly service will commence to Washington DC. The San Francisco service will operate daily from April and Aer Lingus will also have three daily departures to New York during the peak summer this year.

“Transferring at Dublin is a great product which British passengers are experiencing in growing numbers,” according to Mr Harrison. “These events will bring that message to a wider audience and we’re delighted to be working with Aer Lingus to promote Dublin as a transatlantic hub in the British market.”

Poppy Marello

Poppy joined the Routesonline team after successfully completing a degree in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University. Poppy has a passion for…