Aer Lingus will commence flying from Dublin to Philadelphia from 25 March 2018. This is the first time the Irish carrier has served the city and it adds yet another destination to the airline’s US network.
This service will be operated by a Boeing 757-200 by Air Contractors on behalf of Aer Lingus. These aircraft feature the full Aer Lingus livery, seats and cabin service which makes the product the same as the rest of the fleet.
Dublin to Philadelphia
American Airlines currently flies daily between Philadelphia to Dublin using Airbus A330-200 aircraft. This route is an old US Airways route inherited when that airline merged with American. The new route by Aer Lingus will be in direct competition to this.
The current Aer Lingus strategy is to service demand for flights to the USA from the UK regions and Europe via Dublin. This allows US bound passengers to clear US customs and immigration in Ireland and land as domestic passengers stateside.
Joint Venture Possibilities
International Airlines Group own Aer Lingus and its CEO Willie Walsh has stated the intention is for Aer Lingus to become part of the trans Atlantic joint venture. The airlines currently part of this are British Airways, American Airlines, Finnair and Iberia.
This means Aer Lingus customers could mix and match flight combinations using all carriers in the joint venture. This should be a boon to Aer Lingus when and if this takes place.
How About An Alliance?
Until 2007, Aer Lingus was a member of the oneworld alliance, but left to pursue an ill fated low cost strategy under a former CEO. The airline is now positioned as a hybrid carrier. This is a mixture of both full service and low cost elements, using the best of both. It is successful and the airline continues to be profitable.
Frequent flyers in Ireland are curious as to when the airline will join the oneworld alliance once more. Considering its parent company has two of its major airlines in the alliance it makes sense that Aer Lingus will join in time. The question is, when?
Overall Thoughts
Another new transatlantic destination for Aer Lingus is a good thing. Philadelphia offers many onward connections throughout the United States. It will be interesting to see if this one works out and all signs point to the fact that it will.
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