Aer Lingus Regional, operated by Aer Arann, has expanded services to Birmingham
Airport with the launch of its first flight from Dublin on Saturday 1 June 2013
The airline will now operate three daily return flights to Birmingham from Dublin
Airport and aims to fly up to 65,000 extra passengers on the route this year
Birmingham is a key destination on the Aer Lingus Regional network with a 30% increase
in passenger numbers to Birmingham last year - over 100,000 passengers flew to Birmingham
on Aer Lingus Regional routes from Cork, Shannon and Ireland West Airport Knock in 2012
Combined with existing Aer Lingus mainline services to Birmingham, these new services will
double the number of flights to Birmingham from Dublin per day - one of the busiest routes
on the Ireland to UK route network
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| Aer Lingus Regional Cabin Crew Nick Beggs and Jim McCormack celebrate with the first passengers on their inaugural flight to Birmingham, by giving Ciara Gallagher and Ronan O'Grady two free flights on the Dublin to Birmingham route |
Aer Arann’s Chief Commercial Officer, Simon Fagan said that the addition of this route means
that there is now a "shuttle service" for business passengers flying between Ireland and
Birmingham. "We noticed that a large part of the 30% increase in passenger numbers last
year were passengers flying for business between these two cities. With the launch of Dublin
Birmingham today we are now essentially providing a shuttle service with a flight going every
two hours, both morning and evening - 20 flights a day between Birmingham and Ireland
"The additional flights will further facilitate connectivity to Aer Lingus services to the US,
through Dublin. Birmingham-based passengers can connect to the US via Dublin and avail
of security and customs pre-clearance in Dublin airport - Ireland is the only country in Europe
to offer passport and customs pre-clearance to US destinations"
As is part of the airline’s "new beginning" strategy, which aims to position Aer Arann among
Europe’s top tier of regional airlines, the airline recently collected the first of eight new
ATR 72-600 aircraft in a contract valued at almost €144 million. The first of the new aircraft
will operate the Dublin to Birmingham route
Commenting on the first flight, Birmingham Airport’s CEO, Paul Kehoe said: "This expansion
to Dublin from Birmingham will give passengers far greater flexibility and choice with this
established airline brand. Irish routes are extremely popular for both business and leisure
travel from Birmingham and we’re delighted that Aer Lingus Regional has added a further
three daily flights to provide this shuttle service between the two cities"
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| Monday 3 June 2013 |