Travel
Aer Lingus announces new transatlantic flight from Dublin Airport, as Ryanair adds winter routes from Cork
Aer Lingus now operates a total of 20 transatlantic routes from Ireland and the UK
The service, set for take off from April 12 of 2025, will operate four times weekly with flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
It comes in a week when Ryanair announced two new winter routes from Cork Airport to Brussels Charleroi and Rome Ciampino airports.
The Nashville service will be operated by a single-aisle Airbus A321XLR, as opposed to the double-aisle, widebody A330s that serve mainstay transatlantic routes like New York and Chicago.
Fares start from €499 return, the airline said, and are now available to book online.
The news comes as Aer Lingus’s new service linking Dublin Airport and las Vegas approaches, with direct flights set to take off from October 25.
Nashville is one of the fastest-growing cities in the US, famous as the home of country music, and key tourist draws include the Grand Ole Opry, Music Row and Ryman Auditorium.
“Its fast-growing fashion, finance, healthcare and automotive industries also offer plenty of opportunities for business travellers,” said Susanne Carberry, Aer Lingus’s Chief Customer Officer.
The route brings to 23 the transatlantic services operated by the airline, which also began flying to Denver, Colorado, and the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul in Minnesota, this year.
Last year, Aer Lingus added a service to Cleveland, Ohio and restarted its Hartford, Connecticut service – opening up inbound as well as outbound tourism and economic opportunities.
“Nashville’s legendary music scene and Dublin’s rich history make this a natural pairing,” added Doug Kreulen, President and CEO of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA).
Aer Lingus is also heavily invested in developing Dublin Airport as a hub, offering onward connections to 22 destinations across Europe, as well as US Customs and Border Protection’s Preclearance facilities.
Meanwhile, Ryanair this week announced its latest schedule from Cork Airport, extending summer flights to Rome and Brussels into new winter services.
It has also added extra winter flights on its Lanzarote and Manchester routes, and will operate 23 Cork services in total through the winter months.
Ryanair also says it has switched three aircraft from Dublin Airport to Reggio Calabria in Italy and Wroclaw in Poland due to the airport’s passenger cap of 32 million passengers.
Airlines and daa have been lobbying for a raising of the cap, with traffic set to exceed that figure this year.
In other aviation news this week, Ireland West Airport announced a new weekly charter service from Groningen in The Netherlands for summer 2025, with Dutch Tour Operator BBI Travel.
It will be operated by Emerald Airlines every Saturday for 13 weeks from June 7.