Aer Lingus is launching its inaugural Boeing B757 service from Shannon to Boston.

The expansion plan includes new routes from Dublin to San Francisco and Toronto, as well as frequency increases on services from Shannon to Boston and New York.

Flights between Shannon and Boston will operate daily while flights to New York from Shannon will operate six times a week, starting on March 30th.

The increased frequency opens up additional connectivity to almost 40 cities in North America through partner airline, Jetblue Airways, allowing passengers to connect seamlessly to cities such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Fort Lauderdale, Phoenix, Washington, Orlando and Dallas.

Transatlantic connectivity, via Shannon, from other points on the Aer Lingus network will also increase, adding to Shannon Airport’s growth as a transfer hub.

In addition, Aer Lingus and Aer Lingus Regional, operated by Aer Arann, have increased the number of routes offered from Shannon Airport to ten for summer 2014, with a mix of business, sun and city break options.

New routes for summer include a twice weekly service to Malaga and a daily flight to Bristol.

Flights to Birmingham will double in frequency to two flights daily and flights to Manchester will benefit from seven additional weekly services bringing the total number of Manchester flights to twenty.

Aer Lingus chief executive, Christoph Mueller said: “This is a significant day for Aer Lingus and for our team at Shannon Airport.

“Today’s flight marks the beginning of our major transatlantic expansion in 2014.

“We are confident that the increased number of flights from Shannon to New York and Boston will bring additional tourists to the Western region and further support the strong international trade links between the region and the United States.”

He added, “Our transatlantic capacity will increase by 24 per cent in 2014, following on from a very strong year of growth in 2013.

“Crucially, this expansion will directly support more than 200 jobs in Ireland within Aer Lingus and our partner airline ASL Aviation Group.”