Aer Lingus plans record capacity from Dublin; has 7 new routes

Everyone knows that Dublin is by far Aer Lingus’ most-served airport. In Q3 2026 (July-September), Cirium schedule data shows that the carrier plans 2.14 million one-way seats. 83% of its capacity will be from the Irish capital.

Aer Lingus’ offering from Dublin is at a record level. Available seats have exceeded the prior peak summer high, held in Q3 2025, by a strong 8%. It is the new best quarter on record, and the first time that Aer Lingus’ capacity from Ireland’s most populous city has exceeded two million outbound seats.

74 destinations are served from Dublin in the peak summer

Cirium shows that Ireland’s flag carrier will have 94 routes from Dublin in Q3. A considerable 65 of them will have head-to-head competition with at least one other airline, especially Ryanair (47 routes).

Some 74 of Aer Lingus’ destinations are in Europe, 19 are in North America and one is in Africa. 19 of its European airports are exclusively or partly flown by Emerald’s ATR 72s under the Aer Lingus Regional banner.

Schedule analysis for Q3 in the past 22 years shows that it has not previously served more than 71 airports in Europe, with that number last available in 2017. Its prior record to North America was 17 destinations, which was available in Q3 2025. A321LRs/XLRs have been critical to Aer Lingus’ transatlantic development.

The airline’s Dublin routes are in 22 countries, with the top five countries being the UK (555,000 one-way seats), the US (484,000), Spain (258,000), France (192,000) and Italy (141,000). These nations account for more than three in four of Aer Lingus’ available seats from its main airport.

Compared to the same three months in 2025, Norway has joined its network. This is because of the 2 May 2026 launch of flights from Dublin to Oslo (4-weekly). Its least-served country is Morocco, which is only because the route to Marrakech returns on 15 September ahead of W26 (3-weekly).

London LHR is the most-served route from Dublin

Compared to Q3 2025, seven routes have joined or rejoined Aer Lingus’ Dublin network, as shown below. The stated frequencies are based on mid-July. Cirium indicates that only Montpellier has been served in the past two decades (2016-2019). In contrast, Dalaman has exited its network; the last flight was in September 2025.

• 13 April 2026: Raleigh/Durham (5-weekly)
• 2 May 2026: Asturias (2-weekly)
• 2 May 2026: Oslo (4-weekly)
• 19 May 2026: Montpellier (2-weekly)
• 21 May 2026: Inverness (2-weekly)
• 25 May 2026: Pittsburgh (4-weekly)
• 6 June 2026: Tours (weekly)

With 210,000 one-way seats, up by 9% year-over-year, London LHR remains Aer Lingus’ leading route from Dublin. The carrier has 87-weekly departures in July, which has risen from 80 last year. When added to fellow IAG member and close partner British Airways’ offering, the pair have 125-weekly departures on the airport pair.