Aer Lingus is the national carrier of the Republic of Ireland. The former oneworld member has been the largest Irish airline for a long time, but has now been overtaken by Ryanair, which even launched a takeover bid. The Aer Lingus fleet consists of more than 30 Airbus planes with an average age of 5.2 years. The airline serves more than 80 destinations in Europe and the USA and Dubai.
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Aer Lingus Teoranta (Irish version of Limited) was founded on May 22, 1936. The name originated in Aer Loingeas, which means air fleet. Only five days later, the first service was commenced, a De Havilland 84 Dragon flew from Baldonnel Airfield in Dublin to Bristol, England.
In 1940, Aer Lingus moved to a Dublin suburb, when a new airport had been completed there. During WWII, only a new connection to Liverpool and an inland route to Shannon were maintained, all other services were suspended.
Regular flights were re-introduced on November 9, 1945, with an inaugural flight to London. One year later, Aer Lingus gained an exclusive transport right between Ireland and the UK in exchange for giving BOAC and BEA a 40 % share in the airline. This transport right allowed the Irish carrier to expand rapidly and new airplanes were purchased.
In 1947, Aerlínte Éireann was founded in order to operate transatlantic flights. Due to financial problems, the first service from Shannon to New York could not be operated before 1958. Three Lockheed Constellations then were used for the thrice-weekly services.
In the meantime, Aer Lingus had introduced European routes to Rome, Amsterdam and Brussels. For this purpose, new Vickers Viscounts had been added to the fleet.
On January 1, 1960, Aer Lingus and Aerlínte Éireann merged to Aer Lingus – Irish International Airlines. The extension “international” was dropped in 1974. Also in 1960, the airline entered the jet age, when the first Boeing 720s were introduced to their fleet. They were first used on the New York route, later also on the new route to Boston.
In 1968, flights from Belfast to New York were offered. They, however, had to be suspended soon afterwards, as the troubles in Northern Ireland started.
In 1969, the new Boeing 737 was purchased, so Aer Lingus could cope with the increasing demand on the London – Dublin route. As the aircraft proved successful there, 737s were soon used on the whole European route network.
In 1971, Aer Lingus even introduced two 747-100 and later a third one was added. All of them served on transatlantic routes until they were phased out in 1995, after the Airbus A330 had taken over their job.
In 1984, the Irish airline formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, Aer Lingus Commuter, which was supposed to serve inner-Irish destinations, for which no large jet planes were needed.
In the year of the events of 9/11, 2001, the Commuter was reintegrated into the main airline. Like many other airlines, Aer Lingus severely suffered in the aftermath of the terror attacks. Already being in trouble because of the competition with low-cost carriers like Ryanair, the decrease in passenger numbers created heavy losses for Aer Lingus. They introduced cost-cutting programs, and shifted their concentration from the British and American towards the continental European market. By introducing a “no frills” concept they managed to gain profits again. They now try to be both low-cost carrier and intercontinental airline. For example in 2005, Dubai was added as a destination.
Also in 2005, the last Boeing 737s were removed from the fleet. Aer Lingus became an Airbus-only carrier.
In October 2006, the airline was listed on the Dublin stock exchange. Within a few days, Ryanair launched a takeover bid, which was rejected by Aer Lingus. Ryanair did, however, purchase 26.2 % of the airline and intends to further increase this share.
In late March, 2007, it was announced that, as a consequence of the Open Skies Agreement, service to several US destinations will be commenced in Autumn 2007. On April 1, Aer Lingus left oneworld alliance, which it had joined in June 2000.
Their fleet consists of more than 30 Airbus planes with an average age of 5.2 years. In May 2007, two brand new Airbus 330s joined the airline. Aer Lingus serves more than 80 destinations in Europe and the USA and Dubai.
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