Aer Lingus celebrates one millionth transatlantic passenger

This year has seen Aer Lingus’ largest ever transatlantic expansion, with new routes including Dublin to Los Angeles, Newark, NJ and Hartford, CT, and earlier this week the Irish airline greeted their 1 millionth transatlantic traveler at Dublin Airport.

Olwen Kelleghan and Ciarán Foy from County Dublin became the one millionth passengers on an Aer Lingus transatlantic service. The arrived home to Dublin Airport, which is now the fifth largest transatlantic gateway in Europe.

Upon checking-in to their flight to Los Angeles, California Olwen Kelleghan and Ciarán Foy from County Dublin were greeted by Aer Lingus staff with champagne, a complimentary business-class upgrade and a pair of complimentary tickets for any route of their choice on Aer Lingus’ transatlantic network.

Commenting on the milestone occasion, Mike Rutter, Chief Operating Officer at Aer Lingus, said, “We are thrilled to welcome the millionth guest on board an Aer Lingus transatlantic flight in 2016. This is a significant moment in the airline’s history which comes after a busy year in which we have announced a number of exciting new transatlantic routes. We are committed to expanding our Dublin Airport base into a major European transatlantic gateway and look forward to welcoming the next million guests on board Aer Lingus flights.”

2016 has marked Aer Lingus’ largest ever transatlantic expansion since the airline commenced transatlantic flying, in 1958. By the end of the September, Aer Lingus will fly to 10 new North American cities on 12 transatlantic routes. The new year-round Los Angeles service began in May and will be closely followed by Dublin to Newark, New Jersey from September 1 and flights from Dublin to Hartford, Connecticut will begin on September 21. These are in addition to its nine existing routes to Boston, Chicago, New York, Orlando, San Francisco, Washington and Toronto from Dublin, and Boston and New York from Shannon.

Aer Lingus is operating up to 30 daily transatlantic services this summer offering value to business and leisure customers in an increased number of markets across Europe and North America. The convenience of US Customs and Border Protection services at Dublin has enhanced the continued growth of Aer Lingus’ Dublin operation as a connecting gateway.

All Aer Lingus transatlantic fares have the added bonus of being all-inclusive offering free 23kg baggage allowance, complimentary meal and drinks during the flight, not forgetting 120 hours of endless entertainment via the very latest inflight entertainment system. The airline has also recently been awarded four-star status and been named Europe’s third favorite airline, by internationally revered airline rating website Skytrax.

For more information on Aer Lingus, please visit www.aerlingus.com.

Watch this amazing footage from the inaugural flight to LAX: