Delta Air Lines has unveiled plans to launch a new seasonal route between Minneapolis and Dublin—just hours after Aer Lingus confirmed it will restart flights between the cities next summer after an absence of four years.
The SkyTeam alliance member’s new nonstop connection will link Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) and Dublin Airport (DUB) five times per week using Boeing 767-300 aircraft, starting from May 9, 2024.
With the addition of this route, Delta will offer summer flights to DUB from three of its U.S. hubs—Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL), Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) and MSP–in addition to year-round service from New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
Details of the new transatlantic service came on Aug. 17, hours after Aer Lingus announced that it will resume DUB-MSP from April 29, 2024, offering four roundtrips per week aboard Airbus A330s. Frequencies will increase to daily from October 2024, when Aer Lingus hopes to be operating an A321XLR on the sector.
Aer Lingus initially launched the 3,723-mi. (3,235 nm) route using 757s in July 2019 and maintained daily service until the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Since then, operations have remained suspended.
According to data provided by Sabre Market Intelligence, Aer Lingus carried 55,500 two-way passengers between Dublin and Minneapolis between July and December 2019. About 72% of them traveled point-to-point, while 27% started their journey at points behind DUB. Overall O&D traffic between the cities amounted to 77,000 two-way passengers in 2019.
At present, Delta serves three European destinations year-round from MSP, flying to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol up to 3X-daily, Paris Charles de Gaulle 2X-daily and daily service to London Heathrow Airport. Reykjavik Keflavik International Airport is also served daily during the summer season.
The carrier’s Ireland network comprises three daily routes to Dublin from ATL, BOS and JFK, providing almost 10,800 two-way U.S.-Ireland weekly seats. The capacity figure marks a drop of approximately 16% on summer 2019, when Delta also served Shannon, Ireland, daily from JFK.
Delta’s schedule for MSP-DUB will see flights depart the Minnesota airport at 9:20 p.m., arriving in Dublin at 10:50 a.m. the following day. The return service leaves at noon and arrives back in MSP at 2.25 p.m. Meanwhile, Aer Lingus’ flights will depart DUB at 2:20 p.m., arriving in MSP at 4:55 p.m. The return leaves at 6:45 p.m. and lands in Dublin at 8:25 a.m. the next day.
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