New Delhi, November 01, 2023 : Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus has seen fit to prolong its seasonal transatlantic service from Manchester to Barbados and Dublin to Hartford, Connecticut. The airline will be extending both transatlantic routes in response to increased customer demand, according to a statement by the airline.
Aer Lingus told Simple Flying that the direct flight to Barbados (BGI) from Manchester (MAN) will be flown with one of the airline’s Airbus A330-300s. Service to BGI is due to begin on November 1st and will last until May 31st, 2024, a one-month increase in the season for the route. The airline will operate the BGI-MAN route thrice weekly, and you can find flights here.
The airline additionally operates routes to Orlando (MCO) and New York (JFK) from MAN utilizing the A330-300 – flights to Orlando and to New York are available here. Aer Lingus operates the A330-300 in a two-class configuration: economy and business. The airline’s hub at MAN also sees flights to Dublin (DUB) and Belfast (BFS) utilizing the Airbus A320 and ATR 72, respectively. Aer Lingus competes with Ryanair on both the MAN-DUB and MAN-BFS routes.
Just days prior to the announcement, Aer Lingus CEO Lynne Embleton confirmed on a conference call for investors that the carrier had been notified it may have to reduce its flights to DUB as the airport reaches its capacity limit, causing speculation of using MAN as an alternative. The airline just reached the two-year anniversary of offering transatlantic flights from MAN.
Dublin to Hartford
Aer Lingus also announced extensions of its hub at DUB to Hartford (BDL) utilizing the A321LR. Initially due to end on October 28th, Aer Lingus’ DUB-BDL route will run until January 5th, 2024. Aer Lingus will resume the DUB-BDL service service on March 13th on a thrice-weekly schedule until March 30th, after which daily flights will continue until October 29th, 2024. The updated route frequency adds 17 flights to the originally announced schedule, and you can find those flights here.
Passengers on the DUB-BDL route won’t need to queue when they arrive in Connecticut, thanks to US Customs and Immigration pre-clearance at Dublin. After going through customs screening in Dublin, travelers can disembark the international flight as US domestic passengers.
