Just two years after adding them to the map, Aer Lingus is axing a trio of nonstop routes between Dublin (DUB) and the United States – including a celebrated addition in Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP).
Minneapolis, Denver (DEN), and Las Vegas (LAS) will all pay the price for the Irish airline's reductions, Aer Lingus announced Thursday as part of a massive cost-cutting measure and staff reductions. Flights to Denver will end in late September, Minneapolis gets cut in late October, and the last flight to Sin City gets cut in early December.
Aer Lingus is cutting jobs and slashing routes – not to shrink its way to profitability, but to be even more profitable. Its parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG) – which also owns and runs British Airways, Iberia, and a handful of other carriers – has reportedly been pressuring its Irish subsidiary for massive cuts.
But there's another reason Minneapolis is on the chopping block: Delta bullied Aer Lingus off the route.
Aer Lingus announced in 2023 that it would return to Minnesota in the spring of 2024, resuming a business-heavy route it had operated briefly before the pandemic derailed it. Within hours, Delta matched that announcement.
Both carriers operated several flights a week between Minnesota and Dublin through the summer before eventually ramping up to year-round service. With Delta's dominance in Minneapolis, Aer Lingus struggled to fill seats: Less than 70% of seats were filled on average over the last two years, according to data from aviation analytics company Cirium.
In some months, that dipped below 35%.
The Minneapolis-to-Dublin route first launched in summer 2019 to great fanfare, fueled in large part by data from the state’s business community showing lots of unmet demand for a nonstop flight to the Emerald Isle. By all accounts, the route was a smash hit, putting some much-needed pressure on Delta and its partners KLM and Air France, which dominate the transatlantic market out of Minneapolis.
The pandemic derailed it just months later. But it eventually returned in late April 2024 – followed by both Denver and Las Vegas.
All three will be gone next year. The airline is also cutting or reducing some short-haul flights within Europe and converting its nonstop route to and from Seattle (SEA) into a summer seasonal service.
It's not quite a low-cost carrier, but Aer Lingus has made a name for itself with cheap transatlantic fares and a free stopover program, allowing flyers to stop in Dublin for up to seven days on their way to (or back from) somewhere else in Europe.
We've seen nonstop fares to Dublin tumble as low as $320 roundtrip for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members, as well as plenty of business class award space bookable for as little as 45,000 miles each way. And with competition on the route, Delta has repeatedly slashed SkyMiles rates from Minneapolis to Dublin as low as 34,000 SkyMiles roundtrip.
Competition is everything for flight prices. Without it, deals like that will be fewer and further between.
And now the question is: With Aer Lingus out of the picture, will Delta continue flying nonstop to Dublin? Or will it eventually cut and run, too?
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
