Stobart selling Aer Lingus seats – but quiet on staffing

STOBART Air, which operates the Aer Lingus Regional service, is selling seats for flights across its network starting on July 1 – but can’t confirm whether all its staff will be working to operate the services.

Stobart Air has uploaded a bumper schedule to the Aer Lingus website, with flights now bookable on routes from Dublin and Cork to destinations across the UK.

But the Dublin-based carrier hasn’t said if the remainder of its roughly 450 staff will be back at work to run the flights.

Only a small number of staff have worked at Stobart Air during the pandemic, operating publicly funded routes from Dublin to Co Donegal and Co Kerry.

Those services have operated with virtually no passengers, but have given Stobart Air a guaranteed income stream of EU-sourced funds.

“Stobart Air, operator of Aer Lingus Regional routes, is liaising with Aer Lingus in reviewing our future operational schedule in line with guidance from relevant governments in relation to when we will be able to operate particular services,” said a spokesperson.

But the carrier declined to say why it had made the flights available for sale despite still being unsure when it will be able to operate them.

It has not made any flights available for sale in June.

Current advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is to avoid all non-essential travel overseas until further notice.

Aer Lingus and Ryanair both plan to operate more scheduled services from July. Ryanair intends to operate 40pc of its flight schedule that month.

Aer Lingus has been operating a reduced network, including flights to three destinations in the US: New York JFK, Boston and Chicago.

However, its booking engine currently shows flights available for sale from July 20 out of Dublin to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orlando, Washington DD, and Hartford, Connecticut.

The UK-based Stobart Group recently reacquired Stobart Air from EY, the administrator of Connect Airways, of which Stobart Air was a part. Flybe, which failed in February, was also a part of Connect. Stobart Group owns 30pc of Connect Airways.

Stobart has been trying to secure a financial partner for the carrier. Last week, Stobart agreed to sell the rights to the Stobart brand to Eddie Stobart Logistics for just £10m (€11.15m).

‘Stobart Air is liaising with Aer Lingus in reviewing schedule’