Aer Lingus has announced a new route between Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Dublin to commence later this year.

From October 23, 2015, the Irish carrier will commence 16 weekly flights between Liverpool and Dublin on a 174 seat Airbus A320, offering ideal connections onto Aer Lingus flights to North America via Dublin.

Onward flight connections to New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington, Orlando, San Francisco and Toronto will be available; with the morning flight from Liverpool timed to enable convenient transfer times for passengers at Dublin Airport.

Dublin Airport also offers its passengers its US Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance process which allows Aer Lingus passengers the opportunity to clear US and immigration and customs before departing to the US. Ireland is currently the only European country to offer this facility, and means that people travelling to the US via Ireland are treated as domestic arriving passengers.

The new route will help to attract more international visitors to the Liverpool City Region – with the US currently the second biggest long-haul market. Aer Lingus has a codeshare agreement with both JetBlue and United Airlines, enabling onward connectivity to more than 100 destinations across North America.

Andrew Cornish, CEO of Liverpool John Lennon Airport said, “This latest route announcement for the Airport is a clear demonstration of our commitment to bring more routes, more airlines and more choice for the region’s travellers. This route will enhance the Airport’s reputation as a convenient hassle free alternative for business travellers in particular, looking to do business both in Dublin or onward to the US.”

Aer Lingus were one of the first airlines to operate from Liverpool almost 80 years ago, after first establishing air links with the Irish capital in 1936.

Aer Lingus Chief Revenue Officer, Mike Rutter said “The historic connections between the two cities makes Dublin-Liverpool the perfect choice for Aer Lingus’s first major expansion in Short Haul services for a decade. We believe that we can offer the region both great value flights to Dublin and also access to the fastest growing transatlantic gateway in Europe.

The airline will be adding a total of 275,000 seats across its winter schedule, representing its biggest growth in capacity over the past ten years.

It will offer five million short haul seats in the winter programme, up 5 percent on the previous year, including ten percent more on its Dublin to Manchester route, 14 percent more seats between Dublin and Birmingham and 15 percent growth on its Dublin to Paris route.

The airline has also said it is increasing capacity on its transatlantic routes for winter 2016, with a 13 percent increase in capacity compared to winter 2014/15.

Mike Rutter said the 2015 winter programme is driven by three major strategy goals: “It returns our short haul business to growth mode and represents our most significant investment in the sector for a decade,” he said. “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."