Aer Lingus Regional marks first year of Dublin to Southend service with new fleet
Above: Alastair Welch, managing director, Southend Airport and Simon Fagan, chief commercial officer, Aer Arann, with the first of the new fleet (in the background) at Southend Airport.
The route, launched in May 2012, has grown considerably over the past year, flying over 55,000 passengers to London’s newest hub, London Southend. Aer Lingus Regional, operated by Aer Arann, aims to continue to grow the route by 20% in the next 12 months.
The airline has introduced a numbers of measures to support this growth which includes an improved schedule, increasing capacity on the route and, by delivering greater comfort to passengers on the airlines new plane.
Aer Arann, operator of Aer Lingus Regional, recently collected the first of eight new planes as part of a €144m deal with ATR, the world’s largest manufacturer of regional aircraft in Toulouse, France.
The new ATR plane (above) flew to London Southend for the first time on Friday 10 May 2013, arriving to a traditional water cannon salute.
The investment in new planes is part of the airline’s ‘new beginning’ strategy, which aims to position Aer Arann, operator of Aer Lingus Regional, among Europe’s top tier of regional airlines.
Due to demand and customer feedback, Aer Arann adjusted the Dublin to London Southend schedule which now facilitates a day return for business passengers. The popular Dublin to London Southend flight now departs Dublin at 7:15am, arriving in London Southend at the earlier time of 8.50am and returning from London Southend at 19.30pm on the same day.
Aer Lingus Regional recently moved to Dublin’s newest terminal, T2, in Dublin Airport, where they join Aer Lingus’ mainline services. The move provides further convenience for London Southend-based passengers as it facilitates onward travel with Aer Lingus transatlantic routes to US destinations, from the same terminal – a growing part of the Aer Lingus Regional business with over 3,000 passengers making onwards journeys to the US from London Southend per year.
Aer Arann’s chief commercial officer, Simon Fagan said: “We are delighted to mark the first anniversary of this key route in the Aer Lingus Regional network. The route has grown significantly over the past year and our aim now is to continue to work hard to build on this success. We recently welcomed the arrival of the first of eight new ATR planes, the first of which is here today in its inaugural week of flight. The arrival of our new planes enables Aer Arann to further expand our regional offering and to support the addition of new routes and frequencies on existing routes. Dublin to London Southend is an extremely popular route on our network, for both business and leisure passengers. We continue to see steady growth in traffic, with almost 55,000 passengers benefiting from an easy, efficient and accessible connection between Dublin and London Southend this year. With an improved schedule, new planes and great choice for passengers, we are working hard to deliver on our objective of further developing and growing passenger numbers on this route. Aer Lingus Regional is committed to providing its customers with easy, convenient regional connectivity and great value for money.”
Speaking on the first anniversary of the Aer Lingus Regional service, Alastair Welch, managing director, London Southend Airport said: “As we celebrate a successful first year for our Dublin service, with new schedules and new aircraft being delivered, we look forward to even more passengers finding out that flying through London Southend Airport really is 'simply easier'.”
