The service from Dublin, starting 13 April 2026, will be the airline’s 26th North American route. Aer Lingus will operate the route five-times-a-week, reducing to four in winter, using a narrow-body Airbus A321XLR. Fares lead in from €299 one way.

Lynne Embleton, Aer Lingus chief executive, said Raleigh-Durham was “a vibrant and thriving region with well-established links to Ireland". Raleigh-Durham airport saw a total of 15.5 million passengers last year.

Aer Lingus is also introducing third daily frequencies from Dublin to both New York JFK and Boston next summer. The additional flights will have a late evening departure from Dublin and late-night departures from New York and Boston.

Elsewhere, the carrier’s routes from Dublin to Nashville and Indianapolis, which launched earlier this year, will both go up from four flights a week to five next summer, while Dublin-Orlando will become daily during the peak summer season.

Services from Shannon to Boston will also increase by three weekly flights to 10 a week in peak summer.

Aer Lingus has added 10 transatlantic routes in the past four years. Passengers flying with the carrier to the US from Dublin can take advantage of US immigration pre-clearance so they effectively arrive in the US as domestic passengers, speeding transit through the border.