Aer Lingus (EI, Dublin International) has announced it will launch six new routes out of Belfast City, made possible by the opening of a Stobart Air (Dublin International) base at the Northern Ireland airport.
Stobart Air will base five ATR72-600s out of Belfast City and operate under the Aer Lingus Regional brand to Edinburgh and Exeter starting on August 27-28, 2020, to Manchester International and Birmingham, GB starting on September 14, and to Nottingham East Midlands and Leeds/Bradford stating on October 1. All of these routes were previously served by the now defunct flybe. (2002) (Exeter).
While the airline has yet to announce detailed schedules, it said that it would operate high-frequency flights on each of the routes.
"Together with our up to three-times-daily service from Belfast City Airport to London, today’s announcement means Aer Lingus / Aer Lingus Regional, operated by Stobart Air is the largest operator out of Belfast City Airport, ensuring connectivity between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK," Chief Commercial Officer at Aer Lingus, David Shepherd, said.
Aer Lingus operates its services from Belfast City to London Heathrow using in-house A320-200s, the ch-aviation schedules shows. The airline does not serve Belfast International.
Belfast City caters exclusively to UK domestic traffic and is also served by British Airways (BA, London Heathrow), Eastern Airways (T3, Humberside), and Loganair (LM, Glasgow International).
The ch-aviation schedules module shows that Stobart Air also operates as Aer Lingus Regional from Dublin International to Donegal and Kerry and out of Cork, Dublin, and Shannon to destinations in the UK and France. The Irish regional airline used to be a franchisee of flybe. but since the airline's collapse in March this year, it has not operated any other scheduled flights besides the Aer Lingus Regional routes.
Stobart Air operates one ATR42-600, fourteen ATR72-600s, and two ERJ 190-100ARs.
