Aer Lingus announces nine new routes for summer 2009

Aer Lingus has announced plans to introduce nine new routes for summer 2009 from Ireland to the UK and Europe. New services, which are on sale from today, include Dublin to Catania in Sicily, Sofia & Newcastle, Cork to Lanzarote, Lisbon & Rennes, and from Belfast to Milan, Munich & Lanzarote. This expansion brings to 12 the number of European routes introduced already in 2008 and supports the airline's growing European operation both to and from Ireland.

As part of the expansion, Aer Lingus will increase frequencies on seventeen of its most popular European routes including Paris, Faro, Edinburgh, Barcelona, Malaga and Faro. In addition the airline will operate more routes year-round. The highly popular summer service to the Black Sea resort of Bourgas, will recommence for summer 2009.

Announcing the expansion, Aer Lingus Chief Executive, Dermot Mannion said, "This month’s announcement marks the continued development of Aer Lingus' short-haul network, with a focus on capitalising on our most popular European services. Moreover, it reaffirms Aer Lingus' commitment to providing direct, low fares access for Irish customers to new destinations as well as providing real growth opportunities in inbound tourism from emerging markets."