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Citing higher fuel costs, a weak US dollar and the uncertainty of the economic climate, in November 2008 Aer Lingus scrapped its direct Dublin-LA route. 

But at a time when a load of Irish folk were heading out Californian for employment opportunities, it was a particular blow to Los Angeles-based expats. 

Although the airline later implemented a now-popular San Francisco route, there is further good news today for anyone based on America's West Coast: Aer Lingus's Dublin-LA flight is being reinstated. Hurrah!

Kicking off next spring on a year-round basis, there will be five flights weekly with fares from €329.

The announcement was made as part of the airline's transatlantic expansion. In fact, it will be operating three new routes from Dublin to North America in 2016.

In addition to the LA flight, it will also have planes heading out to Newark and Hartford – those are in addition to existing routes to Boston, Chicago, New York, Orlando, San Fran, Washington and Toronto from Dublin, and Boston and New York from Shannon.

Aer Lingus was bought this year by IAG for a cool €1.36bn – and its new parent company is eager to drive more transatlantic traffic through Dublin from the UK.

Indeed, IAG's chief executive Willie Walsh said today: "Ireland’s geographic location and US immigration pre-clearance provides IAG with the natural gateway to build our business between Europe and North America through Aer Lingus.

"This is the first step in our plans to add North American destinations, bring new aircraft into the fleet, increase passenger numbers and create new jobs. This shows also our keenness to develop Dublin as another key hub."

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Following a post-mortem examination at Cork University Hospital, a number of packages have been recovered from the stomach of a young man who died on board an Aer Lingus plane.

The 24-year-old Brazilian national, whom independent.ie has named as John Santos Gurjao, fell ill on Lisbon-Dublin flight EI 485.

He reportedly became “extremely violent” – even biting a fellow passenger who attempted to restrain him – before falling unconscious and dying.

The packages have now been sent for forensic analysis. RTÉ News reports that at least one of them was ruptured. They are believed to have contained cocaine totaling around 800g in weight and worth €55,000 on the street.

A Garda spokesman confirmed late last night: “The post-mortem has taken place. A number of packages have been recovered and have been forwarded for forensic examination. The toxicology results are awaited.”

The flight was diverted to Cork with the pilots citing a “medical emergency,” and requesting permission to make an unscheduled landing.

This morning, gardaí continue to question a 44-year old Portuguese woman who was also on the same flight. It is believed that 2kg of a powdered substance has already been recovered from her luggage.

RTÉ says she has been living in Dublin for several years and is involved in a number of businesses, including offering herself as a consultant to non-EU residents seeking visas to work and study in Ireland.

The post mortem was conducted by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster, who has now also ordered further toxicology tests.

In an astonishingly account, John Leonard, who was also on the same plane, has yesterday told Cork's 96fm that the Brazilian man was "on the ground shaking violently" prior to his death.

He went on to explain: "The noise he was making was like something I have never heard before. 

"It's not something you'd hear everyday. It was like deep anguish is the best way I could describe it, very, very troubled.

"Not screaming in a sense, you know if you'd hurt yourself or something, just very guttural, from deep within him."

Mr Leonard furthermore said that it was a "very violent end". He stated: "To die that way in the back of an aeroplane, it's not right. It was not very pleasant at all."

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A man who fell ill on an Aer Lingus flight became “extremely violent” before falling unconscious and dying on board the plane.

The Lisbon-Dublin flight EI 485 had to be diverted to Cork when the dead man, aged 24 and a Brazilian national, bit a fellow passenger who was attempting to restrain him.

A 44-year-old Portuguese woman onboard the same plane has now also been arrested. It is believed that she was travelling with the dead man. 

©RTE News

 

Gardai allegedly found 2kg of a powdered substance in her luggage and she is currently being detained under the Drug Trafficking Act, according to RTE News.

The Irish Mirror reports that the crew yesterday evening broadcast an emergency Pan Pan message three times in quick succession and advised air traffic controllers of an incident on board the Airbus A320-200.

The pilot requested clearance to divert and land at Cork Airport, telling controllers that there was a man “running amok” and that he had “injured one or two passengers”.

It is also understood there was a doctor and two nurses on board who tried to assist the restrained passenger.

In an astonishingly account, John Leonard, who was also on the plane, told Cork's 96fm that the Brazilian man was "on the ground shaking violently".

He went on to explain: "The noise he was making was like something I have never heard before. It's not something you'd hear everyday. It was like deep anguish is the best way I could describe it, very, very troubled.

"Not screaming in a sense, you know if you'd hurt yourself or something, just very guttural, from deep within him."

Mr Leonard furthermore said that it was a "very violent end". He stated: "To die that way in the back of an aeroplane, it's not right. It was not very pleasant at all."

All 168 passengers and six crew members were removed from the plane in Cork while gardai, airport paramedics and an ambulance rushed to the scene.

The passenger who suffered from the bite was also taken to hospital as a precaution.

The Irish Mirror adds that although the dead man wasn't Irish he “may have been studying in the country”.

Describing the incident as a “medical emergency,” Aer Lingus said last night in a statement: “Flight EI 485 Lisbon to Dublin diverted into Cork due to a medical emergency on board.

“There were 168 guests and six crew members on board. The flight landed safely at 17.40 local time.”

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An Aer Lingus flight bound for Shannon Airport was forced to make an emergency landing at John F. Kennedy Airport on Monday at 7:15pm.

Flight EI-110 reported hydraulic issues shortly after take-off from JFK. During the emergency landing one of the plane's brakes overheated which caused a fire to erupt in the landing gear compartment.

The plane was carrying 110 passengers when it returned to JFK. According to WABC, the pilot informed Air Traffic Control “We do have a technical issue here – we lost our hydraulic system, one hydraulic system so we are going to have to return to Kennedy at some stage, not quite yet.”

In a statement to RTÉ News the company said emergency services were on the scene as a precaution and all passengers disembarked safely.

One of the passengers on board the flight told Mail Online that the pilot was calm and excellent throughout the entire ordeal.

“It just looked like a sci-fi movie. The actual touchdown itself was pretty bumpy, but not out of control considering, he did an excellent job,” passenger Patrick Dyer Wolf told WABC.

“Right away we could see there were maybe 15 or 20 fire trucks right on the runway immediately, ready to drive up, and they started spraying us like almost immediately.”

Aer Lingus flight EI-110 has been due to land at Shannon at 6 o’clock this morning but the company are said to have provided all passengers with accommodation until the next available flight.

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Yup… we all know the feeling: heading back to work after a hollier is like the Sunday night fear times a million.

It's brutal, in fact.

There you are, just admiring your sun-kissed glow when you realise that your only clothes are bikinis and shorts, not to mention that there is NO food for breakfast – never mind for your packed lunch the next day. 

And now – quelle surprise! – Aer Lingus has confirmed what we suspected all along: 40 percent of adults suffer from post-holiday blues. 

The company released the figures today – and 44 percent of the same 1,000 surveyed individuals said that 'the fear' of returning to work is the worst symptom of their post-holiday come-down. 

It furthermore takes pretty much everyone (nine out of ten people) a full two weeks to 'get over' their holiday and return to regular emotional health. 

Still, two-thirds of those asked reported that they alleviated their gloom by… simply booking another holiday. 

Aer Lingus released the figures to coincide with its Need Another Holiday Sale which starts at midnight tonight. 

This sale includes flights to Britain from €20, mainland Europe from €30 and North America from €209. 

And given that more than seven out of ten folk in the same report agreed that travelling abroad improves their mental well-being and general happiness… We're off to plan our next holiday!

The sale runs from September 14 on aerlingus.com.

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