SEATTLE – With Irish eyes smiling and surrounded by green colors, the Port of Seattle welcomed Aer Lingus’ new nonstop service between Dublin and the evergreen state at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport today. The arrival also marked the first pre-cleared trans-Atlantic flight into Sea-Tac allowing passengers to avoid going through customs here as they completed security procedures beforehand in Dublin.
Dublin was the largest European destination without direct service from Seattle and will now be served by an Airbus 330-200 four times per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday).
“More than 800,000 Washingtonians claim “Irish” as their primary ancestry, making this new connection a value in that regard but also creating links to booming tech industries in both countries and an additional choice to travelers coming and going to Ireland,” said Port of Seattle Commissioner Stephanie Bowman. “This can be seen as a prize at both ends of the rainbow!”
Marking Aer Lingus’ inaugural service to Seattle, Mike Rutter, Chief Operating Officer said: “We are delighted to commence Ireland’s first and only direct service to Seattle, Washington State, with four direct flights each week. Seattle as a destination holds great promise for Aer Lingus given the strong business ties between the two regions making this an important route for business travel as well as leisure trips as exemplified by the high demand for business class tickets on the route to date.”
Flights are scheduled to arrive in Seattle at 5:35 p.m., and depart for Dublin at 7:20 p.m. The aircraft will feature 23 flat bed business class seats and 243 economy class seats. Aer Lingus will provide Seattle passengers connections through Dublin to 24 European cities.
This will be the first pre-cleared trans-Atlantic flight to fly into Seattle. That means passengers and their luggage will be cleared at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Ireland before departure, so when travelers arrive in Seattle they will not need to go through passport control.
View a video of the Aer Lingus arrival or watch sound bites of the speakers at a welcoming event.
Sea-Tac is one of the nation’s fastest-growing large hub airports and four new international carriers joined the airport in 2017. Aer Lingus will be the third new international carrier to begin operations at Sea-Tac in 2018.
About Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
Operated by the Port of Seattle, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA, KSEA) is ranked as the 9th busiest U.S. airport, serving nearly 46.9 million passengers and more than 425,800 metric tons of air cargo in 2017. With a regional economic impact of more than $22.5 billion in business revenue, Sea-Tac generates 151,400 jobs (87,300 direct jobs) representing over $3.6 billion in direct earnings and more than $442 million in state and local taxes. Currently, twenty-eight airlines serve 90 non-stop domestic and 25 international destinations.
