Courtesy: Paul Doyle 

Aer Lingus Regional launched their first flight from Dublin to Newcastle on Thursday 24th October 2013. The airline now operates two daily return flights from Dublin Airport to Newcastle and aims to fly up to 65,000 passengers on the route in the first year, operated by new ATR72-600 aircraft.

The first service EIN3356/7 (ATC Callsign REA56NC/57NC) was operated by EI-FAV ATR72-600 c/n 1105 received a water canon salute on arrival at Newcastle.

Aer Arann, operator of Aer Lingus Regional, recently announced a package of measures to grow the airline as part of its ‘new beginning’ strategy.These measures include the launch of three new routes to Manchester, Birmingham and now, the addition of Newcastle to the airline’s route network.

Aer Arann’s Chief Commercial Officer, Simon Fagan said “We are delighted to be celebrating our first flight from Newcastle airport, where we’ve had a warm welcome from the North East with many passengers taking advantage not only of the Dublin destination, but also connections onto Aer Lingus mainline services to major North American cities such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Orlando, San Francisco and Toronto.

“Passengers connecting onto US services at Dublin get the added benefit of pre-clearance of US customs, which can save passengers up to two hours in time on arrival. This is a huge benefit to passengers who can avoid a lengthy delay at customs.

“Aer Lingus Regional is committed to providing our UK customers with easy, convenient and great value regional connections.”

Newcastle International airport Aviation Development Director Chris Sanders said “It’s great to see the launch of Aer Lingus Regional’s first flight from Newcastle to Dublin. The service has been very popular with both business and leisure travellers keen to take advantage of the convenient schedule and excellent service on offer.”

Irish Aviation Research Institute © 26th October 2013 All Rights Reserved.