Irish carrier Aer Lingus recently held a promotional roadshow in downtown Springfield for promoting new nonstop flights to Dublin from Hartford-Springfield. The uniform-clad flight attendants of the airline took part in the roadshow at the Colony Club. The new promotion was held to showcase the new route taking advantage of the month of St. Patrick. Media reports said that the roadshow received applause by business leaders and tourism professionals.
The inaugural flight between the Dublin and Hartford-Springfield is scheduled to start from September 28, 2016. This will be the airline’s first transatlantic service to/from Hartford’s Bradley Airport ever since Northwest conducted its flights to Amsterdam from Bradley from June 2007 through September 2008. The service was however finally stopped by Northwest with ever-increasing jet fuel prices and recession keeping away vacationers and business travelers.
Aer Lingus will be deploying Boeing 757 aircrafts to conduct flights between Hartford-Springfield and Dublin. The aircraft will be configured with 180 seats. Travel experts predicted that the flights are expected to run 90 percent capacity during first few months, thus there will be nearly 160 passengers on each flight.
Travel experts also said that Hartford-Springfield is a good market as well. This is because Bradley Airport’s service areas of Pioneer Valley and Greater Hartford together account for 1.3 million transatlantic flights per year. The real challenge is however to effectively reach out and attract the business community. The new service will also prove to be advantageous for all those businesses who want transatlantic flights from Bradley Airport.
Helen Maguire, Aer Lingus’ Director of Consumer Sales at U.S. offices on Long Island, has meanwhile also confirmed that the sales of flight tickets are currently good, but however declined to share the exact numbers. Tickets are already being sold for quite some months now. The new service is also being promoted by Aer Lingus as a gateway to not just Ireland but entire Europe.
Aer Lingus is presently offering nonstop flights to 12 destinations in Europe and 14 destinations in UK. The passengers traveling to the United States are able to clear customs in Dublin itself, and they therefore are not required to wait after landing at Bradley.
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