To which US cities would you open new direct routes to?

GorillaGG

At the moment, DUB has direct connections to JFK, EWR, PHL, BOS, ORD, MCO, ATL, CLT and soon SFO. (Have I missed any others?)

To which US cities would you open new direct routes to that would be successful? There must be a demand for them. The obvious one is Las Vegas (LAS) which is a popular destination for honeymoons and holidaymakers. Miami (MIA) is another popular holiday hotspot, also popular with J1ers. I’d consider a route to Austin (AUS) as a link to Texas, although Dallas or Houston could equally work. Many Texans are proud of their Irish heritage and the Texas region is a new, different American experience to the usual east coast city that most Irish are familiar with.

dogmatix

1. Seattle for the IT and business links (Microsoft HQ - Microsoft europe HQ).
2. Vancouver for the Tourism (Rockies etc).

Not a daily flight mind, but a weekly one. Maybe just fly to one city and market it as being for both. After all they are only about 150 miles apart so you could claim (Ryanair style) that you operate flights to “Seattle-YVR”.

Although the border and customs between the two could be problematic, especially for a non US/Canadian citizen.

Lapin

Vegas

KevR

I'm actually surprised that EI are re-starting direct flights to SFO as opposed to LAX. Surely Los Angeles has better onward flight connections. Not to mention it's a much bigger city than San Francisco (it's like comparing London to the likes of Liverpool or Leeds!)

GorillaGG

KevR wrote: »

I'm actually surprised that EI are re-starting direct flights to SFO as opposed to LAX. Surely Los Angeles has better onward flight connections. Not to mention it's a much bigger city than San Francisco (it's like comparing London to the likes of Liverpool or Leeds!)

Aer Lingus argue that the SFO route provides vital connections for Silicon Valley companies like Facebook that have headquarters in Ireland. Not to mention Irish tech companies that have a presence in Silicon Valley. These companies regularly transfer workers between their different sites for training purposes. In addition, San Francisco is a popular tourist destination for Irish travellers.

L.A. doesn't offer the same demand for business travellers.

L1011

Detroit might work as a hub and for the standard diaspora access reasons - Michigan would have been quite a common place to go in the last century.

Preset No.3

In no particular order:

Dallas
Dulles
Miami


Now shoot apart my suggestions! :P

Stinicker

How about a twice weekly service DUB-LAS-LAX, LAX-LAS-DUB

GorillaGG

Preset No.3 wrote: »

Dulles

I believe Aer Lingus used to fly to Dulles from DUB a few years ago but the route was a flop. They fly to enough cities on the East Coast...it was a case of spreading the passenger base too thin. Besides, Washington DC is only a 2 and a half drive from Philly.

Peregrine

Does United not fly to Dulles, no?

BuffyBot

Yes, they do.

gihj

MIA is the only option due to accessability to Florida/Caribbean destinations.L.A. and Vegas are final destinations.Does anyone seriously think that some internet geek regardles how stalky they may be has a better business plan than Herr Muller???
Cop on and stop talking romanticism lads.

martinsvi

I think all the top US destinations are covered, and where they're not - having used jetBlue connections I have nothing but good things to say.

Sometimes I wonder if Rio or other Brazilian hot-spot would make sense? I bet 20k odd Brazilians living in Ireland won't keep the route alive, but if combined with people looking for fresh travel destinations and raising economy in Brazil, could it actually work?

Stinicker

martinsvi wrote: »

I think all the top US destinations are covered, and where they're not - having used jetBlue connections I have nothing but good things to say.

Sometimes I wonder if Rio or other Brazilian hot-spot would make sense? I bet 20k odd Brazilians living in Ireland won't keep the route alive, but if combined with people looking for fresh travel destinations and raising economy in Brazil, could it actually work?

Could Aer Lingus operate fifth freesom flights eg. DUB-MCO-GIG or GRU? Their ill-fated base at Gatwick appears to have been their first foray outside Ireland.

L1011

Stinicker wrote: »

Their ill-fated base at Gatwick appears to have been their first foray outside Ireland.

Since the 50s or 60s when they operated flights ex-Manchester to the continent I thought?

murphym7

I think for a small country we are very well serviced by the routes we have at the moment to North America. I would doubt there is the critical mass to make other routes viable.

hfallada

Ireland is so well served as British people are now using Dublin Airport instead of the likes of Heathrow, which IMO is a nightmare. Dublin has less travel tax the UK, it has US border control and is well connect to most UK cities anyway.

I could maybe see a Dublin to Dallas route, since Texas is such a rapidly growing and wealthy state.

iusedtoknow

KevR wrote: »

I'm actually surprised that EI are re-starting direct flights to SFO as opposed to LAX. Surely Los Angeles has better onward flight connections. Not to mention it's a much bigger city than San Francisco (it's like comparing London to the likes of Liverpool or Leeds!)

Aer lingus have just been added to my company's (not google) "approved flying list" for a couple of reasons.

1. We have a lot of business travel back and forth, at any one time we have 100 people in Europe. For anyone not american, they are recommending to connect through Dublin for "ease". There is nothing worse than taking an 11 hour flight (like I did yesterday) and have to stand in a line for 45 minutes waiting for immigration. From DUB, they would be right into Domestic terminals and home.

2. Dublin has great connections to the rest of Europe. Our main travel bases are Zurich, Madrid and Warsaw. Each of those sites are served with at least 2 connections a day

I know a number of people that work for Facebook, google , Cisco etc - American and European that would rather go through Dublin.