26 January 2010: Aer Lingus and Aer Arann have today announced that agreement
has
been reached to establish a franchise arrangement between the two
airlines.
Under this franchise agreement Aer Arann will operate 12 routes from Dublin
and Cork.
The routes will include current Aer Lingus and Aer Arann routes as
well as 3 new routes.
These franchise services will be branded as “Aer Lingus
Regional” and operated using
Aer Arann ATR 72-500 aircraft and crew. All
franchise flights will be sold and distributed
through www.aerlingus.com. Aer Arann will assume
full operational and commercial
responsibility for the services covered by
the franchise agreement with Aer Lingus
receiving a franchise fee in
recognition for providing its brand and product suite to Aer
Arann.
The new agreement significantly increases Aer Lingus presence in the
Ireland-UK
market with new services to Ireland from Bristol, Blackpool,
Cardiff, Doncaster/Sheffield,
Durham, Glasgow and Edinburgh in addition to
new seasonal services from Cork to
Jersey in the Channel Islands and La
Rochelle in France.
Welcoming the new agreement Aer Lingus Chief Executive Mr. Christoph Mueller
said
“This franchise agreement is good news for all stakeholders in Aer
Lingus as it will allow
us to serve key regional destinations, linking them
with our Dublin transatlantic network
as well as offering our business and
leisure customers improved schedule and
frequency options.”
Aer Arann Chief Executive Mr. Paul Schütz also welcomed the agreement calling
it an “a
major development for Irish aviation and the tourism industry. The
combined strengths of
both airlines, including brand power and market
presence, will allow us to offer a quality
customer product that meets the
capacity requirements of existing and new routes.”
Detailed routes and
frequencies are set out below:.
The following routes and frequencies will be covered by this franchise
agreement.
A new service will be launched from Cork to Glasgow with six
roundtrip services per
week (excluding Tuesdays).
Cork to Bristol – 6
roundtrips per week
Cork to Edinburgh – 11 roundtrips per week
Cork to
Cardiff – Daily service
Cork to La Rochelle – 2 weekly
Cork Jersey – 2
weekly
The Dublin-Glasgow route will increase to up to four roundtrips per
day
The Dublin-Edinburgh route will see an Aer Lingus daily service
supplemented by two Aer Arann round-trip services, one in the morning and one in
the evening.
Dublin to Cardiff – 3 Daily roundtrips
Dublin to
Blackpool – Daily service
Dublin to Doncaster/Sheffield - Daily
service
Dublin to Durham Tees Valley – 6 roundtrips per week.
Passengers who hold existing bookings on any of the services covered by
this agreement will
have their bookings amended and new travel documents will
be issued without charge. Aer Arann
will proactively contact each passenger
with information on changes to their flight bookings.
ENDS
