The airline Aer Lingus has confirmed that its new regional subsidiary, Aer Lingus Regional, will begin operations on 17 March. The company will specialise in routes between Ireland and Great Britain. The launch is taking place more than 10 months ahead of schedule. The aircraft, ATR72-600s, are franchised to Irish carrier Emerald Airlines.
Aer Lingus Regional to offer up to 340 weekly flights on 11 routes from Dublin. It will fly up to 4 times a day to Glasgow and Edinburgh. Up to 3 times a day to Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester and up to 2 times a day to Leeds/Bradford. It will also operate several weekly flights from the Irish capital to Cornwall Newquay, Exeter, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Newcastle.
Another subsidiary has been set up in Northern Ireland. Named Emerald Airlines UKIt is waiting for its air operator's certificate from the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to be issued.operate flights from Belfast City-George Best Airport. The airline hopes to take off in 2022. Flights to the UK will connect with Aer Lingus' transatlantic flights in Dublin. But also with the Irish carrier's flights to the rest of Europe, including France.
Emerald took delivery of its first aircraft in September, under an agreement for six ATR 72-600s from Chorus Aviation. The airline also has an agreement in place to lease a further four ATR 72-600s from Nordic Aviation Capital.
For his part, Aer Lingus has relaunched some of its European routes this winter. The relaunch includes flights from Dublin to Frankfurt, Geneva, Prague and Zurich. The Geneva route has been served by 9 weekly flights since 18 December.
