Browsing Tag: Dublin

The Irish and American flags were flown as Aer Lingus’ inaugural flight taxied to the gate

On May 18, yet another European airline started non-stop service to Seattle: Ireland’s Aer Lingus is now connecting Dublin with Seattle four times weekly.

The first ever pre-cleared transatlantic flight into Seattle, Aer Lingus EI 143 touched down ahead of schedule at 4.55 p.m.

Until this inaugural, Dublin was the largest European city without direct service from Seattle. Aer Lingus is using an Airbus A330-200 on the route, and flies on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday from departing at 5.35 p.m.

Aer Lingus COO Mike Rutter said ’œWe are delighted to commence Ireland’s first and only direct service to Seattle, Washington State, with four direct flights each week. Seattle as a destination holds great promise for Aer Lingus given the strong business ties between the two regions making this an important route for business travel as well as leisure trips as exemplified by the high demand for business class tickets on the route to date.’

With the strong demand Aer Lingus is seeing in this route, the airline is apparently already looking at eventually increasing the frequency from four to seven flights per week.

02 - ET504 787 taxis to Gate 134

Ethiopian’s 787 taxis at LAX to gate 134

With the arrival of flight ET504 into the new Tom Bradley International Terminal on June 20th, Ethiopian Airlines officially kicked off its service between Addis Ababa and Los Angeles, via Dublin.

The festivities, punctuated with live music as well as traditional Irish and Ethiopian dancing, celebrated the first time a carrier based in Africa has served Los Angeles.

These service additions are part of Ethiopian’s overall strategy to dominate the African market. By maximizing fleet utilization and picking up a route that Aer Lingus abandoned in 2008, Ethiopian Airlines has smartly connected the large Ethiopian and Irish communities in Southern California to their respective native homelands, proverbially killing two birds with one stone.