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A decade after British Airways deserted its hyperlink from Manchester to New York, its Irish sister airline is about to start out flying the route – in addition to companies to Boston and Orlando.
The New York and Orlando companies might be in direct competitors with Virgin Atlantic.
All three locations had been beforehand served by Thomas Cook Airlines, which was primarily based in Manchester however went bust in September 2019.
Aer Lingus has requested the US Department of Transportation for authorisation “to promote, advertise, and sell those services to United Kingdom passengers as quickly as possible.”
The service is hoping to start out promoting seats on Friday 8 January, with flights beginning in May. It follows discussions with plenty of UK airports, together with Edinburgh, a few potential British base for the Irish service’s US companies.
Aer Lingus defines its technique “to be the leading value carrier across the North Atlantic enabled by a profitable and sustainable short-haul network”.
Sean Moulton, a UK aviation connectivity analyser, mentioned: “These destinations will increase the choice of airlines and help to turn Manchester into a transatlantic hub, as well as providing connections onto Aer Lingus flights to Belfast, Cork and Dublin.”
While the airline will proceed direct transatlantic flights from Dublin and Shannon to the US, some Irish passengers might discover they should fly to England first in the event that they want to journey on their nationwide service.
Aer Lingus is a part of IAG, the consortium that additionally contains British Airways and two Spanish airways, Iberia and Vueling.
The transfer is unlikely to search out favour with commerce unions representing pilots, cabin crew and floor workers for BA, the place hundreds of workers have misplaced their jobs in the course of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Independent has requested the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) and the Unite union for a response.
Between 2009 and 2015, Aer Lingus had a base at Gatwick airport, flying European routes in competitors with easyJet. It was closed after heavy losses.
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