After a protracted absence triggered by the pandemic, Irish provider Aer Lingus plans to renew nonstop service between Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) and Dublin (DUB) in spring 2024.
Aer Lingus is aiming to restart flights to Minneapolis someday in Might 2024, in line with airline schedule filings first reported on Enilria.com. The airline plans to fly between its Dublin hub and Minnesota 4 occasions per week on an Airbus A330-200. Flights will not be presently accessible for buy but.
The airline has not publicly introduced the returning route and didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Tuesday morning. A spokesman from the airport instructed Thrifty Traveler they’d no data to share about Aer Lingus’s plans.
It has been a very long time coming for Minnesotans pining for the return of a simple and low cost technique to get to Eire – or reserving a stopover in Dublin en path to elsewhere in Europe. And it is the ultimate main worldwide route from Minneapolis to return after the pandemic.
The Minneapolis-to-Dublin route launched in summer time 2019 to nice fanfare, fueled largely by knowledge from the state’s enterprise group displaying plenty of unmet demand for a nonstop flight to the Emerald Isle. By all accounts, the route was a smash hit.
Simply months later, COVID-19 struck. With worldwide journey demand at zero by the spring of 2020, Aer Lingus shelved the route indefinitely. However whilst worldwide journey roared again and Aer Lingus resumed lots of its U.S. routes whereas additionally including new cities to its map – together with smaller outposts like Cleveland (CLE) – Minneapolis repeatedly missed the reduce. The airport’s hopes of Aer Lingus returning in 2022 or 2023 have been dashed.
However 2024 can be completely different. Might Aer Lingus have some competitors flying to Dublin … from Delta?
Final 12 months, Delta made waves with regulatory filings that confirmed it was eyeing its personal nonstop from Minneapolis to Dublin this summer time, maybe swooping in earlier than Aer Lingus had the prospect. However the route by no means materialized, and Delta has by no means publicly commented on its plans for connecting its Minneapolis hub and Eire.
However Aer Lingus’s return may convey one thing that Delta would not: cheaper fares to Europe.
It isn’t fairly a low-cost provider, however Aer Lingus has made a reputation for itself with low cost transatlantic fares and a free stopover program, permitting flyers to cease in Dublin for as much as seven days on their technique to (or again from) elsewhere in Europe. We have seen nonstop Aer Lingus fares to Dublin tumble as little as $320 roundtrip for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members.
These decrease costs may put some much-needed stress on Delta and its companions KLM and Air France, which dominate the transatlantic market out of Minneapolis. And the widebody aircraft Aer Lingus intends to fly to Minneapolis – an A330-200 – has a whole lot of seats for the airline to fill … in each economic system and enterprise class, too.
On the entrance of the aircraft, Aer Lingus enterprise class is a top-notch technique to get to Dublin nonstop, particularly if you happen to can snag considered one of its personal “throne seats.” As soon as flights are bookable, these enterprise class seats ought to be bookable for 60,000 Avios every means through British Airways or Aer Lingus itself.
Learn our full evaluation of Aer Lingus enterprise class!
Dublin is considered one of a handful of worldwide locations that has a U.S. customs preclearance facility. Which means you may clear customs and immigration earlier than boarding the flight dwelling.
It is a breaking information story, verify again for updates.