Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus seems poised to scale back its presence in Manchester, England, announcing on its website that it is no longer selling tickets for transatlantic flights to or from the city past March.
“To minimize customer disruption in the event of a closure of the Manchester base… Aer Lingus is no longer selling transatlantic flights to/from Manchester for travel from 31 March 2026,” the airline’s statement read.
The carrier acknowledged last year that its Manchester operations were underperforming compared to those based in Ireland and said it may have to shutter its crew base there. Its most recent statement said only that it is “undergoing a period of uncertainty on transatlantic services” at Manchester.
Aer Lingus serves New York-JFK, Orlando, Florida, and Bridgetown, Barbados, from Manchester, as well as Dublin and Belfast.
There is no impact on mainline or regional flights between Manchester and Ireland, the carrier noted.
Aer Lingus confirmed to AirlineGeeks in November that it was entering a “collective consultation process” with representatives of workers in Manchester and would look at all available options for the base. Still, a complete shutdown remained a possibility.
In October, cabin crew based in Manchester held a four-day strike over a pay dispute. According to The Irish Times, the workers rejected a proposed wage increase because it would not do enough to close the pay gap between Manchester-based employees and Aer Lingus’ crews in Ireland.
Aer Lingus serves both New York-JFK and Orlando from Dublin, though not Bridgetown.
