Aer Lingus has announced that it will close its Manchester base. The unsurprising news comes after several months of speculation, including the statement earlier this month that it would stop selling tickets for flights from the North West hub to New York, Barbados, and Orlando from March 31. The airline said this was to “minimise customer disruption, in the event of a closure of the Manchester base.”
Now, Aer Lingus has said that the Manchester-New York JFK service will end on February 23, while the base itself will close on March 31. The Barbados service will be transferred to Dublin (subject to receiving the necessary approvals) and will operate between April and May.
Approximately 200 jobs will be affected by the closure, and Unite said it was negotiating redundancy terms for staff members following the “disappointing” decision.
The BBC reported that Aer Lingus said that meetings had been held with staff representatives about the cut in services and “the terms of a severance package at the Manchester base.
“Aer Lingus acknowledges that this is a very difficult time for colleagues based in Manchester and will seek to ensure that colleagues are kept informed and supported as discussions evolve during the next phase of the consultation.”
Aer Lingus boss Lynne Embleton said that the operating margins on its long-haul routes from the north west hub “significantly lag” behind those of its Dublin operation. The airline said that these poor profits made it “difficult to justify further investment in the Manchester base and raises the question as to whether there are potentially better alternative uses of the two aircraft that are in the Manchester base.”
In addition to cabin crew, there are around 40 pilots based at Manchester. The Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (IALPA) said that it would be working closely with management “to find solutions and options to mitigate any potential redundancies in the Manchester base.”
An earlier internal memo sent to crew members stated that staff may have the opportunity to work elsewhere within Aer Lingus or its parent, International Airlines Group (IAG), which also owns British Airways.
[Cover image credit Aer Lingus]
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