Aer Lingus is considering closing its Manchester base, with the service – which came into being to bolster the airline’s transatlantic operations during the pandemic years – considerably lagging its Dublin sales.
Aer Lingus management told staff, this week, that this situation “makes 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”.
The airline will enter a collective consultation process with worker representatives to explore all options regarding Manchester, but said the fact that the base – which flies to the US and the Caribbean – is vastly underperforming compared to Dublin, “has prompted a necessary consideration of the long-term viability of the Manchester base”.
