Irish Startup Emerald Air Eyes St Patrick’s Day Flight Launch

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Startup Irish regional carrier Emerald Airlines has today (December 16th) announced its initial 11 routes. Operating for Aer Lingus Regional, all are from Dublin to regional UK airports, with the first taking off on March 16th to the Isle of Man. (All right: the day before St Patrick’s Day.)

Aer Lingus Regional
Lynne Embleton, Aer Lingus CEO, and Conor McCarthy, Emerald Airlines CEO, pose in front of EI-GPP, one of Emerald’s initial two ATR-72-600s. Photo: Fran Veale/Julien Behal Photography.

What’s happening?

Emerald Airlines was set up to replace Stobart Air – which ceased operating in June this year – for the Aer Lingus Regional franchise. The contract was one of the most coveted prizes for European regional operators in recent times.

Emerald was the brainchild of Conor McCarthy, the CEO of Aer Lingus Commuter, co-founder of AirAsia, Managing Director of PlaneConsult, Executive Chairman of Dublin Aerospace, and crucially Non-Executive Chairman of Stobart Air until late 2019. It’s no coincidence he supported the opportunity.

Securing its air operator’s certificate in September, Emerald will more or less do exactly what Stobart Air (and before that Aer Arann) did. It’ll focus on regional UK routes from Dublin utilizing ATR-72-600s (just like Stobart, and presumably the same ones), a newer, quieter, and comfortable turboprop variant, well-suited to lower-cost short flights.

Emerald's initial Dublin network
Emerald and Aer Lingus will jointly serve Birmingham and Manchester, the only destinations that will see both carriers. Emerald will replace Aer Lingus to Bristol, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. Image: GCMap.

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Emerald’s initial 11 routes from Dublin

There aren’t any surprises – there wouldn’t be – and the 11 routes have an average sector length of 203 miles (327km). That’s almost the same distance as Newquay to Gatwick, just inaugurated by Eastern Airways with ATR-72-600.

The routes are shown below, with the first (Isle of Man) beginning on March 16th, shortly before the summer season. All are bookable, but note that the specified frequencies are, for some routes, what is available later in the summer. All airport-pairs will be good for strong point-to-point demand, while most will also feed Aer Lingus’ onward flights to the US and Canada.

  1. Dublin to Birmingham: from March 26th, 15-weekly
  2. Dublin to Bristol: March 27th, 18-weekly
  3. Dublin to Edinburgh: March 27th, 28-weekly
  4. Dublin to Exeter: April 29th, five-weekly
  5. Dublin to Glasgow: March 17th, 28-weekly
  6. Dublin to Isle of Man: March 16th, six-weekly
  7. Dublin to Jersey: May 28th, once-weekly
  8. Dublin to Leeds Bradford: April 15th, 13-weekly
  9. Dublin to Manchester: March 27th, 20-weekly
  10. Dublin to Newcastle: April 15th, five-weekly
  11. Dublin to Newquay: April 29th, four-weekly
Stobart ATR-72
This aircraft was used by Stobart Air. Looking ahead, Emerald will have no direct competition to Exeter, Isle of Man, or Newquay, while it’ll compete with Blue Islands to Jersey and with Ryanair on seven routes. Photo: Gavin via Flickr.

The UK market for transit passengers

In 2019, booking data indicates over 300,000 passengers connected between the US and UK over Dublin. If Canada’s included, that rises to about 340,000. The transit market is vital to Aer Lingus’ North Atlantic network, and Emerald will play a key role.

What do you think of this development? Let us know in the comments.

With thanks to Sean Moulton.



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