Irish airline Aer Lingus is growing its U.S. operations.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Commencing future spring, Denverites will be in a position to fly right from Denver Global Airport (DIA) to Dublin, Ireland on Aer Lingus.
The Irish airline confirmed Thursday it is increasing U.S. functions by including new routes to Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Flights from Denver will operate four situations per week, commencing May 17, 2024.
The immediate flights from Denver to Dublin will choose about 9 several hours and start at $699 (though with airfare pricing in flux, that determine could rise based mostly on the time of 12 months and desire), in accordance to an airline spokesperson.
With the new route, DIA now carries 28 nonstop worldwide flight places.
“We’re increasing our global connections,” said DIA CEO Phil Washington at a push meeting exactly where the new route was declared. “There’s a lot of excitement, but our renovation of Denver Intercontinental Airport gets to be even extra critical now.”
The announcement arrives all through a document-breaking summertime journey season for DIA.
The airport logged extra than 6.7 million travelers in June, marking its busiest thirty day period at any time.
Significant passenger visitors has caused headaches for vacationers, specially in backed-up TSA stability traces. But Washington and airline leaders say the ongoing Terrific Corridor Job will enable simplicity congestion and prepare the airport for booming global and domestic travel desire.
Aer Lingus CEO Lynne Embleton explained in a assertion that she sees the profit of the new routes likely both of those methods: connecting Denverites with immediate routes to Europe, and connecting Europeans with outside prospects and organization connections in the U.S.
“With Dublin’s geographic situation as the gateway to Europe, pre-clearance services at the airport and the sturdy, prolonged founded Irish American ties, Aer Lingus is ideally placed to link persons and sites across the Atlantic,” Embleton wrote Thursday.
In the push release, Aer Lingus spokesperson Lara Sexton exclusively described Denver’s technology, renewable power and aerospace sectors, as nicely as the city’s “rich Irish heritage.”
“Denver and Minneapolis-St Paul are sizeable business locations inside the US and the new Aer Lingus routes aid company back links and connectivity between Europe and North The united states, by way of our Dublin Hub,” Embleton stated. “Denver’s situation as the ‘Gateway to the Rockies’ and its outdoor attractiveness, from globe course snowboarding to climbing, opens up a full new US expertise to leisure vacationers from Ireland and Europe.”
Airport leaders and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston collected alongside Irish group associates at the Town and County Developing Thursday to announce the new Dublin route.
Johnston recognized himself as one particular of more than 620,000 Coloradans who share Irish ancestry.
“My household is from Ireland on both sides,” Johnston claimed. “In addition to reconnecting families back again to their Irish homeland, we also know this is an amazing financial chance.”
The direct route will push much more than $65 million in economic impacts in Colorado and convey far more than 400 jobs to the town, Johnston mentioned.
Irish neighborhood associates claimed the relationship would support enhance nearby cultural gatherings and tourism in both equally Denver and Dublin.
The strategy to url the two cities emerged about 10 a long time back when local community customers voiced the idea to earlier airport leaders, explained Jim Lyons, honorary consul of Eire in Denver.
“Irish have been in Colorado for around 200 decades as farmers, ranchers, miners in Leadville and many other roles,” Lyons explained. “You have no idea what this usually means to us.”
Tickets for the very first immediate flights from Denver to Dublin are on sale now.
This article has been up-to-date with remarks from Mayor Mike Johnston, DIA CEO Phil Washington and Ireland’s honorary consul in Denver.