Aer Lingus celebrates 60 years of flying between Dublin and Birmingham Airport

The Douglas DC-3 aircraft which operated the first Aer Lingus flight
to Birmingham Photo: Will Blunt, Global Air Image Photo Archive

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Today Aer Lingus celebrates 60 years of flying between Dublin
and Birmingham. On Monday May 2nd 1949, a Douglas DC–3
aircraft with 26 seats and bearing the name “St Declan” left
Dublin Airport bound for Elmdon Airport, Birmingham
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Fares at the time were £6-0-0 single, £10-16-0 return and £9-0-0

excursion return. In 1949, the Dublin to Birmingham service operated

on week-days (in those days defined as daily except Sunday). It

carried in excess of 10,000 passengers in its first year of service
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"This is an important day in the history of Aer Lingus and our

evolution from a single week-day flight with a capacity for 26

passengers in 1949, to today where four A320 aircraft with a

capacity of 174 seats take to the skies four times daily. We are very

proud of our long standing association with our colleagues at

Birmingham and we look forward to the next 60 years flying,"

said Aer Lingus Corporate Affairs Director, Enda Corneille

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Commenting on the occasion Paul Kehoe, Birmingham International

Airport's CEO, said, "2009 is a very special year as not only is it 60

years since Aer Lingus started its operations from Birmingham, it's

also 70 years since the Airport opened its doors and 25 years of

operating from the current site. We are therefore delighted to be

sending our congratulations to the airline that has had the longest

continuous standing relationship with Birmingham Airport and we

look forward to working with the team for many more years"
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Aer Lingus has a long history of flying to the UK, Birmingham was

the fifth destination in Britain to be served by Aer Lingus, the other

cities included London, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow

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Aer Lingus currently serve Dublin 3 times daily Cork 4 times a week
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www.aerlingus.com
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Saturday 2 May 2009