It has taken a while, but the Connecticut city of Hartford will finally have nonstop flights to Europe again when Aer Lingus takes off next March. It is the third airline to serve Europe in the past 15 years. Yes, Hartford is only located 100 miles (161km) from Boston and a bit farther to Newark and New York JFK. Still, it has a reasonably sized metropolitan area and seems to do relatively well economically.

At any rate, like many airports and/or areas, Hartford offers financial incentives to attract carriers by reducing their risk. In 2018, Connecticut agreed to incentivize Aer Lingus by more than $13 million over four years to continue operating. Because it abandoned service in early 2020, Aer Lingus has some of that remaining and, because of coronavirus, might have secured more.

Hartford's only long-haul service

On March 26th, Aer Lingus will resume Dublin to Hartford, the city's only long-haul route. It'll operate 1x daily using the 184-seat A321LR; I look over the route's history below. It is scheduled as follows, with all times local:

  • Dublin to Hartford: EI131, 14:10-16:35 (7h 25m block time)
  • Hartford to Dublin: EI130, 18:00-05:15+1 (6h 15m)

The return of Hartford shortly comes after Cleveland, a brand-new route from Dublin, was announced. It'll start in May. At least one more new North America route will probably materialize soon.

Aer Lingus' North America flights
This shows Aer Lingus' North America departures (green) and arrivals (blue) in the week starting March 26th. While Hartford isn't yet included, it will it'll leave outside the absolute peak bank across the Atlantic. Image: OAG.

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Third airline to Europe in 15 years

Since 2007, Hartford has had Europe flights by Northwest, Aer Lingus, and Norwegian. Between July 2007 and September 2008, Northwest served Amsterdam 1x daily using 757-200ERs.

It was, of course, to feed fellow SkyTeam member KLM's Amsterdam hub, thereby opening up Hartford to numerous destinations, many becoming one-stop for the first time. It was a time when Northwest served Amsterdam from the likes of Memphis (de-hubbed by Delta), Washington Dulles, and more, and not just the routes now operated by Delta.

2880px-Boeing_757-251_-_Northwest_Airlines_-_N538US_-_EHAM
Northwest used the 757-200ER (seen in the foreground) to Amsterdam. Photo: Usuario Barcex via Wikimedia.

Then Aer Lingus

Eight years after Amsterdam ceased, Aer Lingus launched service from Dublin. The route began in September 2016 and used 757-200ERs wet-leased from ASL until the A321LR, with far lower fuel burn, took over in the summer of 2019.

According to Department of Transportation (DOT) data, Aer Lingus carried 15,577 passengers in 2016, 83,069 in 2018, 82,232 in 2019, and 7,519 in 2020 (it was postponed in April).

Helped by a slight reduction in seats for sale and the route's development, the seat load factor (SLF) increased year-on-year, up to 84% in 2019. As you'd expect, peak summer months sometimes even exceeded 90% but often fell to sub-65% in the depths of winter.

Aer Lingus' Hartford inaugural
So far, the route has primarily used ASL 757-200ERs. Photo: Bradley International Airport (Hartford).

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And Norwegian

Less than a year after Aer Lingus arrived, Norwegian introduced Hartford from Edinburgh in June 2017, initially using 737-800s due to delays in MAX 8 deliveries. It lasted until March 2018 and, according to the DOT, carried 21,992 passengers.

As it had 36,732 seats for sale, it achieved an average SLF of just 60%. Not surprisingly, peak summer months (July and August) exceeded 80%, but it was poor overall, even with financial incentives. The end came as it cut transatlantic 737 flying generally.

Norwegian Edinburgh Hartford
Norwegian served Hartford for less than a year. Photo: Edinburgh Airport.

Anywhere next?

What is curious is that there has been Amsterdam, Dublin, and Edinburgh – but not London. It is bound to have a pretty decent number of people who are leaked daily to Boston/Newark/JFK.

Not that there's necessarily a realistic airline to operate it unless BA with its 214-seat B787-8s. Or, more creatively, perhaps Breeze with its pretty long-range premium-heavy A220-300s. After all, Hartford is its third-busiest airport, and it previously said it wanted to fly across the Atlantic.

What do you think of it all? Let us know in the comments.