Aer Lingus and BA CityFlyer to take over 10 Stobart routes

Aer Lingus and BA CityFlyer will take over a total of 10 routes hit when Stobart Air folded at the weekend, the Irish carrier confirmed on Thursday.

Stobart, which flew regional services for Aer Lingus, ceased trading with the loss of 480 jobs when its owner, British group Esken, ended financial support for the Irish airline.

Aer Lingus said that it would fly six routes previously operated by its partner until at least August 31st, while BA CityFlyer, part of British Airways, will take over four routes for the rest of the summer.

Aer Lingus added that it was transferring affected customers to replacement flights, or was booking them on to alternatives where there were no replacements scheduled.

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However, services on other Stobart routes, including from Dublin to Donegal and Kerry, and from Belfast to Cardiff and England's East Midlands Airport, are cancelled until at least June 27th. Aer Lingus said affected customers can seek refunds or vouchers for future travel, and the airline is offering alternative flights to passengers due to fly from Belfast City to East Midlands before June 27th.

According to its statement, Aer Lingus will take over the services from Belfast to Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester, and the routes from Dublin to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester.

BA CityFlyer meanwhile will travel from Belfast to Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford and Newquay.

Subsidised routes

Aer Lingus repeated that it was ready to operate the Government-subsidised Dublin-Kerry Airport service, subject to reaching an appropriate public service deal.

It is also looking at ways of flying from Dublin to Donegal, which was the second public service route offered by Stobart.

The High Court this week appointed Deloitte Ireland partners Ken Fennell and Mark Degnan as provisional liquidators to Stobart Air.

The airline ceased trading late on Friday, June 11th, when it told Aer Lingus and subsequently its workers the news. Stobart’s contract to run the Aer Lingus Regional franchise was due to end in December next year.

Both Aer Lingus and British Airways are part of International Airlines Group.