Aer Lingus gets the go-ahead to start selling seats on UK-US services
AER Lingus has been granted tentative approval to operate services from Manchester to the United States by American authorities. Full approval won’t be awarded until UK authorities have sanctioned licences to the carrier.
However, the US Department of Transportation has granted Aer Lingus authorisation to begin marketing and selling tickets in the UK for the services, which are expected to launch later this year.
IAG-owned Aer Lingus plans to operate flights to destinations including Orlando, Boston and New York. It intends to initially use four Airbus aircraft for the services – two A330s and two new A321s.
Aer Lingus had originally hoped to be given permission in January to start selling tickets for the services.
The airline’s interim chief executive, Donal Moriarty, insisted last month as IAG released full-year results that the carrier’s plan to fly from Manchester to the US “doesn’t involve the taking of aircraft that would otherwise be deployed in Irish airports”.
“Our fleet plan and the aircraft within our fleet is sufficient to allow us to launch services from regional UK to North America and for us to execute on our plans out of airports in Ireland,” he said.
Mr Moriarty said the services will likely start later this year.
The US Department of Transportation said in relation to the Aer Lingus application to operate the Manchester-US services, that “it is consistent with the public interest to grant the request… to engage in their proposed advanced marketing and sales activities in the United Kingdom only” pending final approval of the carrier’s operating request.
The chief executive of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, Phillip Brown, has voiced his support for the planned Aer Lingus service from the UK to Florida.
He said that Orlando’s airport lost 30pc, or more than 83,000 seats a year from Manchester when Thomas Cook collapsed in 2019. He added that the Thomas Cook route was worth $141m (€119m) a year to Central Florida.
IAG, which also owns British Airways, Iberia and Vueling, acquired Aer Lingus in 2015. It invested heavily in the Irish carrier, significantly expanding its route network to the United States in particular and using Dublin as a hub for transatlantic travel originating in the UK and on mainland Europe.
But just like other airlines, the Irish carrier has been hit hard by the Covid pandemic.
It posted a €563m loss last year, which included €202m of exceptional items. It had made a €276m pre-exceptional operating profit in 2019. Its passenger revenue slumped 81.4pc to €382 last year, while cargo revenue jumped to €88m in 2020 from €34m.
The airline has boosted its liquidity with a €150m facility from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) that was inked in December. It has already drawn down €75m of that. It also received a €50m loan from IAG.
IAG recently named the head of its cargo division, Lynne Embleton, as the new CEO of Aer Lingus. She’ll commence her role on April 6.
Ms Embleton is the first ever female chief executive at the airline.