AER LINGUS WILL next year launch services direct from Dublin to Los Angeles and two other US destinations.

Flights from the Irish capital to the west coast city will run five times a week from early May, while from September onwards it will also operate daily direct services to Newark, New Jersey and Hartford, Connecticut.

The destinations make up Aer Lingus’s biggest transatlantic expansion since it started flights between Ireland and the US in 1958. The airline previously had direct fares to Los Angeles, but abandoned the route when the recession hit.

At the moment, the only non-stop flights from Ireland to Los Angeles are Ethiopian Airlines’ services three days a week from Dublin to the Californian metropolis. The African airline launched the route this summer.

This is how the schedule and pricing for Aer Lingus’s new flights will look:

It is the first major announcement from the airline after its takeover by British Airways parent IAG for about €1.4 billion.

As part of his pitch to get the government to hand over its share in the former state carrier, IAG boss Willie Walsh promised four extra transatlantic routes by 2020. An extra eight aircraft and up to 635 more jobs were also predicted over the next five years.

Sam Boal Sam Boal

Aer Lingus said its current growth push, which would increase its long-haul capacity by 17% next year, meant another 200 jobs for pilots, cabin crew and support staff.

It plans to use US customs and immigration pre-screening in Dublin to turn the airport into a “major European transatlantic gateway” for IAG, which also owns Spanish carriers Iberia and Vueling.

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