{"id":398013,"date":"2026-04-14T13:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T13:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/398013\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T13:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T13:58:10","slug":"aer-lingus-launches-first-flight-connecting-ireland-and-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/398013\/","title":{"rendered":"Aer Lingus launches first flight connecting Ireland and North Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AER LINGUS has launched a new route connecting Ireland and North Carolina for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>The Dublin to Raleigh-Durham service enjoyed its inaugural flight this month and will continue to operate up to five times weekly on Aer Lingus\u2019 new Airbus A321XLR aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur new route creates a direct connection between Ireland and the Raleigh-Durham region for the first time, making it even easier for customers to travel to Dublin and onwards to destinations across the UK and Europe,\u201d Lynne Embleton, Chief Executive Officer at Aer Lingus, said this week.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-307231 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/aer_lingus_inaugural_rdu_92108_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"730\" height=\"487\"\/> The inaugural flight from Dublin to Raleigh-Durham took place this month<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Raleigh-Durham region is a hub for technology, innovation and research, and this additional connectivity to that region will allow the business and educational ties on both sides of the Atlantic to flourish,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>The timing of the new route launch is set to benefit residents in Ireland and the US \u2013 with the service increasing accessibility to North Carolina\u2019s Research Triangle &#8211; which\u00a0includes\u00a0Raleigh,\u00a0Durham,\u00a0and\u00a0Chapel\u00a0Hill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe innovation hub is home to Research Triangle Park (RTP), one of the largest research parks in the world, which houses hundreds of tech and biotech companies,\u201d an Aer Lingus spokesperson explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe region is also home to top universities such as North Carolina State University (Raleigh), Duke University (Durham) and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, making it a hub for innovation, research and higher education,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n<p>The new service is also perfectly poised to serve fans from the University of North Carolina (UNC) travelling to the 2026 Aer Lingus College Football Classic in the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, this August.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUNC will take on Texas Christian University (TCU) in the opening weekend of the NCAA college football season in what will be the international debut for both teams,\u201d the spokesperson explained.<\/p>\n<p>In 2025, the Aer Lingus College Football Classic attracted almost 23,000 visitors from the US to Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLaunching ahead of the 2026 Aer Lingus College Football Classic makes this service especially timely, and we\u2019re really looking forward to welcoming UNC fans to Ireland this August as the Tar Heels take to the field at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin,\u201d Ms Hambleton added.<\/p>\n<p>Next month, Aer Lingus will \u00a0launch a new service to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bringing the airline\u2019s total number of routes from Ireland to North America to 24.<\/p>\n<p>Everything from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/irishpost.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">irishpost.com<\/a>\u00a0and the print edition is available on the Irish Post App \u2014 plus more! Download it for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.irishpost.theirishpostapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Android\u00a0<\/a>or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/gb\/app\/the-irish-post\/id6753946980\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Apple IOS<\/a>\u00a0devices today.<\/p>\n<p>                One moment please&#8230;<br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757599208_653_loading.gif\" alt=\"Loading...\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AER LINGUS has launched a new route connecting Ireland and North Carolina for the first time. The Dublin&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-398013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}