On Sunday afternoon, Ireland West Airport welcomed the first direct service to London Heathrow operated by Aer Lingus. The inaugural Aer Lingus flight EI915, operated by an Airbus A320 EI-DEK, landed at 12:44pm from Heathrow Airport. Aer Lingus will operate daily flights to London Heathrow. As well as providing a daily service to Heathrow, this new service means customers can enjoy seamless connections via London Heathrow Airport to North America. Aer Lingus currently has partnerships with a network of airlines out of Heathrow Airport, providing access to an ever-growing number of routes and benefits. Airlines include Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, JetBlue, and United Airlines. British Airways codeshares on Aer Lingus services which will offer global access from Ireland West Airport to/from the UK and London Heathrow. British Airways also codeshares on Aer Lingus operated North American and Canadian services for connecting passengers to and from the UK. The new route will boost inbound tourism to the West of Ireland. The new service to London Heathrow replaces the popular Ireland West to London Gatwick service that has operated for a number of years. The flight times are similar to the previous Gatwick service. The EI915 is scheduled to arrive at 12.35 from London Heathrow and the return flight, EI916 will depart from Ireland West at 13.05 with a 14.30 arrival in London Heathrow.
Commenting on the new London Heathrow service, the Aer Lingus CEO, Lynne Embleton said: “The west of Ireland has so much to offer as a tourist destination with the Wild Atlantic Way and most recently as the filming location for Oscar-nominated The Banshees of Inisherin. Our new Ireland West Airport Heathrow service is an exciting new route, bringing travelers from Great Britain right to the heart of the action in the west of Ireland. Equally customers from the west of Ireland will now fly into the UK’s largest airport and have the opportunity to travel onwards to cities all over the world.”
Also welcoming the news was the Chairman of Ireland West Airport, Arthur French who commented “This is another proud day for the airport and the entire Western region as we commence our new daily service to Heathrow with Aer Lingus. The hub status of Heathrow for business and leisure passengers to connect with the global marketplace is a major boost for this region, as this service opens up key onward connectivity, through one of Europe’s biggest hubs, to over 80 destinations worldwide. From a tourism perspective, the service will deliver a significant increase in tourist visits from all corners of the globe. It was particularly pleasing to see today so many passengers on the first flights travelling onwards to destinations such as New York and people arriving in from as far away as Adelaide in Australia, which emphasises the importance of this new connection, which now provides seamless access to North America and a host of worldwide destinations with Aer Lingus’s codeshare partners. We thank Aer Lingus for their continued support and their vote of confidence in the airport. It is critically important now that the new service attracts the full support of the region and the business community in particular, as it will require an even greater effort on all our behalf to ensure the route is a success and continues to grow in the longer term.”
