Aer Lingus is the sixth-largest European operator to the US. In the 12 months to March 2026, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) shows that nearly 2.8 million round-trip passengers were transported. Only British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France, Turkish Airlines (whose hub is on the European side of the Bosphorus Strait), and Virgin Atlantic had more traffic.

In the examined period, Aer Lingus’ US operations were from three European airports: Dublin Airport (DUB; 2.34 million passengers), Manchester Airport (MAN; 247,000), and Shannon Airport (SNN; 191,000). The carrier has since ended all transatlantic flights from MAN. In this article, only the carrier’s DUB routes are examined.

A Quick Word About Aer Lingus’ DUB-US Operations

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Between April 2025 and March 2026, Cirium Diio data shows that Ireland’s flag carrier had 18 routes from DUB to the US. When they’re combined, as mentioned earlier, the DOT shows these routes had 2.34 million passengers. Compared to the prior 12 months, traffic rose strongly.

Due to 15.4% more departures, partly influenced by new routes to Indianapolis and Nashville launching last year, passenger volume rose by 7.9% year-over-year. But as seats for sale increased by 11.1%, the load factor (which is technically the seat factor) fell from 78.1% to 75.8%. The reduced load was lower than for Aer Lingus’ MAN-US flights (77.7%) and those from SNN (78.4%).

It was also lower than for all airlines operating between DUB and the US (78.3%) and from Europe to the North American nation generally (83.4%). It is always about how and why an airline achieves a specific load. It is just one performance metric, and should not be considered in isolation. Time will tell if Aer Lingus is planning cuts to its US network to help improve the capacity-traffic balance and therefore to increase loads and yields.

Aer Lingus’ Ten Lowest Loads From DUB To The US

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They are summarized in the following table and shown on the interactive map. With a load factor of just 61.8%, DUB to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) was Aer Lingus’ worst-performing route in this sense. It was the second-worst result from Europe to the US. Flights resumed in April 2024, but it has suffered in various ways.

Delta Air Lines began flying from MSP to DUB in May 2024. The SkyTeam member often retaliates by launching flights on the same long-haul airport pair, which is obviously the carrier’s right. The purpose is to drive off another airline. Both Aer Lingus and Delta operate on a near-year-round basis, although Delta has few flights in January and February. In all, the DOT shows that Aer Lingus filled just 61.8% of seats in the examined period, against Delta’s 78.1%.

Despite having fewer flights than in the peak season, operating in the winter has been particularly problematic for Aer Lingus. Between November 2025 and February 2026, the load factor varied from an unbelievably low 30.0% of seats (February) to 50.9% (November). Given these results, it’d be reasonable to ask if the government data is correct. Nonetheless, it’s no wonder the carrier’s US routes are moving away from flying for some or all of January and February to help improve performance.

Where Aer Lingus’ MSP Passengers Went

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When all airlines are considered, the local market between DUB and MSP is reasonably sized. In the examined period, over 90,000 round-trip passengers flew locally. It was the second-largest market from Europe to MSP, after London Heathrow (106,000). Surprisingly, there’s relatively little difference between the two. DUB traffic more than doubled compared to 2023, when neither Aer Lingus nor Delta operated nonstop.

Many of Aer Lingus’ MSP passengers connected to another flight in DUB. Predictably, booking data suggests that Heathrow was the leading market, although the carrier secured less than 5.0% of the market. Rome was next, followed by Manchester, Edinburgh, Paris CDG, Munich, Glasgow, Barcelona, Madrid, and Frankfurt.