Aer Lingus eyes 2m more transatlantic passengers by 2020

Aer Lingus will have at least 24 aircraft flying transatlantic routes every day from 2022 as it pursues plans to more than double this business, according to CE Stephen Kavanagh. The airline announced on Friday that it intends flying from Dublin to Seattle, Washington, in the northwestern US, from next May, just weeks after confirming that it would add Philadelphia to its transatlantic network next summer. Kavanagh said the carrier’s fleet expansion plans would, by 2022, give it “a minimum of 24 aircraft flying over the Atlantic every day”. He said the airline would order a new Airbus A330 long-haul aircraft in coming months to boost frequencies on existing transatlantic flights from Dublin. Kavanagh indicated that the airline may also increase the number of flights on transatlantic services from Shannon Airport, from where it serves Boston and New York. Aer Lingus wants to grow the number of passengers on its North American services from Dublin to 4.5m by 2020 from an estimated 2.5m this year. It has doubled this business since 2013, according to Kavanagh.<br/>