A significant increase in the number of people travelling between the United States and Ireland is expected next year, according to the Dublin Airport Authority.
It said that capacity on transatlantic routes at Dublin and Shannon will increase by almost 270,000 seats, which would represent a 20% rise on 2012.
There will be just under 1.7 million seats available between the US and Ireland in 2013, according to the DAA, due to a number of new routes and increased services.
The number of visitors travelling to Ireland from the US increased last year, according to the Central Statistics Office, following a steady decline from its peak in 2007.
Ireland had 1,073,000 US visitors in 2007 but that fell 14% by 2010. 1,004,000 visited from the country in 2011.
Amongst the new routes contributing to the rise in capacity is a new service between Dublin and New York’s JFK operated by American Airlines and a summer service between Chicago and Shannon being run by United Airlines.
Meanwhile US Airways is set to operate a larger aircraft on its Dublin to Philadelphia route, while also resuming its Shannon to Philadelphia service following a four year absence.
