Aer Lingus are said to be close to resuming flights from San Francisco to Ireland, which would be a huge boost for the Irish tourism market, IrishCentral has learned.

Earlier last month it was reported that talks were underway to restore the route, which was discontinued when the recession hit.

Now it is believed that massive Silicon Valley companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook, which have their European corporate headquarters in Dublin, have made clear that they would welcome the direct access to one of their most important destinations.

That would also be a major factor in ensuring that a significant amount of business travel would take advantage of the new route.

It would also allow feeder flights from Seattle where Microsoft is located, another huge Irish employer and other West Coast cities such as Los Angeles.

Aer Lingus has recovered lost ground after the recession and are having their best year for some time.
A California hub would be a major step forward for the airline which has been joined on the Transatlantic routes this year by new services from American and United Airlines.

The upshot is that up to one million passengers are now expected to fly to Ireland this year - a record number.