Aer Lingus and Emerald Airlines have announced details of the commencement of Aer Lingus Regional flights. The flights operated under a franchise agreement by Emerald Airlines will commence on 17th March as Aer Lingus Regional. Today’s announcement will result in Emerald Airlines flying over 340 flights per week across 11 routes using ATR72-600 aircraft.
The commencement of the Aer Lingus Regional routes operated by Emerald Airlines will greatly increase connectivity between the UK, Ireland and the US, and accelerates Aer Lingus’s strategy to expand Dublin Airport as a hub airport.
The carrier will operate high-frequency routes, including Dublin-Edinburgh and Dublin-Glasgow, will be served up to 4 times daily. The announcement sees the re-establishment of services to regional points across the U.K including Newquay Cornwall, Exeter, and Isle of Man. Emerald Airlines will be the only airline offering these services from Ireland. Critically, the announcement adds over 60 UK – US routes on the Aer Lingus network connecting via Dublin including connections from UK regional airports to New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle.
Aer Lingus CEO Lynne Embleton said “Today is about opportunities. Opportunities for our UK customers to connect with ease to Aer Lingus flights to North America and to take advantage of the US preclearance facility. Opportunities for customers across UK and Ireland as we develop the Aer Lingus regional network. And opportunities for the Irish economy and Irish aviation as we expand our hub at Dublin.It has been a pleasure to work with the team at Emerald Airlines to accelerate this partnership and start operations 10 months ahead of the original schedule. We are all looking forward to welcoming our customers on-board Aer Lingus Regional services, operated by Emerald Airlines.”
Emerald Airlines CEO Conor McCarthy said “We’re delighted to be able to commence operations under our franchise agreement with Aer Lingus well ahead of plan in line with the recovering customer demand. The time is right for Emerald Airlines to begin operations under the Aer Lingus Regional brand .Our customer-focused schedules will offer choice, convenience and great value for both regional and transatlantic air travel. This announcement is a great boost for connectivity from Ireland to the U.K, including cities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Isle of Man, Newcastle, Bristol, and Leeds. Emerald Airlines will be offering a high-frequency schedule with convenient flight timings to facilitate both business and leisure passengers.”
A hub airport is one which is served by strong or multiple network carriers and airline alliances that provide scale in routes, aircraft, crew and passengers.
Image courtesy of Elevationair
Irish Aviation Research Institute © 23 December 2021 All Rights Reserved
