Aer Lingus’ inaugural service to Seattle on the US West Coast takes to the skies this afternoon from Dublin, marking the start of the airline’s 15th transatlantic route.
The new four-times-a-week service to the ‘Emerald City’ is the latest destination to be unveiled by the Irish flag carrier, as part of its ambitious expansion plans, focusing on offering unbeatable routes to North America.
Flight EI143 will be operated by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft, named after the Irish saint, ‘Saint Keeva’. The new year-round Dublin to Seattle service will enable guests to choose from 2,218 roundtrip seats every week and marks the start of Aer Lingus’ new interline agreement with Alaska Airlines.
Seattle is the second new transatlantic route to be launched by Aer Lingus for summer 2018, following the successful debut of the four-times-a-week Dublin to Philadelphia service in March. Demand has been so high that from today Aer Lingus has upgraded the route to offer daily flights during the peak summer season.
Mike Rutter, Aer Lingus Chief Operating Officer, said: “We are delighted to commence Ireland’s first and only direct service to Seattle, Washington State, with four direct flights each week.
“Seattle as a destination holds great promise for Aer Lingus given the strong business ties between the two regions making this an important route for business travel as well as leisure trips as exemplified by the high demand for business class tickets on the route to date.
“Our interline agreement with Alaska Airlines means we can offer seamless onwards connections to our guests to 40 additional locations serviced by Alaskan Airlines, including Hawaii and Alaska. It also ensures that we can make Ireland and further into Europe accessible for Alaskan’s 44 million travellers.”
The launch of the Dublin to Seattle services also marks the beginning of Aer Lingus’ interline partnership with Alaska Airlines.