Flying Smarter

Yvonne Muldoon, director of global OTA’s & regional Sales (EU/NA) for Aer Lingus, leaves no doubt about it, travel agents are a crucial part of the carrier’s distribution network, writes executive editor, Bob Mowat in this week’s digital issue of Canadian Travel Press.

In fact, Muldoon was in Toronto recently to meet with Aer Lingus’ travel trade partners here and update them on what’s been going on at the carrier these days.

“The main objective of the visit here in Toronto is to spend some time with our trade partners and let them know the kind of investment we’ve put in place for our Toronto-Dublin service,” Muldoon told Canadian Travel Press.

“We continue to get a huge proportion of our business through our travel agency partners and we’re very appreciative of that business,” Muldoon added.

Muldoon, accompanied by Aer Lingus’ regional sales manager for Canada, June Tiffney, told CTP that the carrier is also committed to further increasing its presence in the Canadian market – whether it’s B2B or B2C – to make sure that “Canadians understand that they have an option of flying across the Atlantic and into Ireland or beyond and on Aer Lingus.”

Muldoon continued: “We may not always be the obvious choice, but we’ve been flying out of this market for a number of years and we’ve carried close to 600,000 guests over that course of time from Canada into Ireland and beyond.”

Of that number, Muldoon pointed out that “over 35% of Canadians are travelling onwards to Europe with Aer Lingus,” seamlessly transferring through the carrier’s Dublin hub, with the top destinations that they’re going on to including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

Which leads Muldoon to point out that: “We’re not just an Irish airline serving point-to-point, we’re a global carrier that gives [passengers] the ability to transfer onwards from our hub.”

Out of Toronto, the carrier’s service is year-round – daily in peak season, five times a week during the off-peak season – which has been a critical factor in the growth of Aer Lingus’ transatlantic market.

“That consistency of service year-round is really important, particularly for the corporate market,” Muldoon told CTP.

For the full story, check out this week’s issue of Canadian Travel Press.