Aer Lingus CE Lynne Embleton highlighted yesterday that its new regional partner, Emerald Airlines, would play a key part in aiding the carrier in developing its hub at Dublin Airport. Since International Airlines Group (IAG) bought Aer Lingus in 2015, it has backed a strategy, developed by the Irish airline, to connect passengers travelling between Europe and North America at Dublin Airport. This helped support an increasing number of transatlantic flights to existing and new destinations. The spin off nationally was that it strengthened links with the United States, a key trading partner, investor and source of tourists; and forged new ones with Canada, increasingly seen as a destination for exports following a trade deal with the European Union. By early 2020, Aer Lingus was flying to 15 cities across both countries while talking about doubling that by 2025. Now it just serves Boston, Chicago and JFK New York from Dublin. IAG acknowledged last week that cargo was supporting much of the US business, but the airline is seeing some increases in demand for those flights. Nevertheless, Embleton’s reference to the role that Emerald will play in feeding passengers into transatlantic services indicates a clear intention that Aer Lingus intends on rebuilding this business.<br/>
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Ryanair has announced it will open a new base at Newcastle International Airport in 2022, creating dozens of aviation jobs. Two aircraft will be based there from March as the airline also increases the number of its European routes. Eddie Wilson, Ryanair's CEO said it would create at least 60 jobs. The airport said the new base would help it recover following the coronavirus pandemic. About 5.5m people flew through Newcastle in 2019, but disruption caused by Covid-19 saw nearly all flights cancelled at one point. Nick Jones, the airport's CE, said the investment was a sign of "growing confidence" and was "significant" for both the airport and the region. "This will create new jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineering alongside support services, and will generate economic value for the wider area," he added.<br/>
Amid the devastating pandemic, a moment of hope opened the door for ExpressJet Airlines, formerly the nation’s largest regional airline, to seriously think about restarting its commercial operations. The carrier, which flew in partnership with for major US airlines, plans to launch service on its own this fall. ExpressJet was forced to cease flying when United terminated its United Express contract with the regional carrier last September. It was the announcement of the Payroll Support Program Extension or PSP2, which the company applied for but didn’t get, that triggered ExpressJet’s desire to reboot, said CEO Subodh Karnik. “When PSP2 occurred, we said there is an opportunity for the company to do something from a fiduciary perspective and we just couldn’t keel over and die,” Karnik said. “So we had to say, ‘you’ve got this pool of 3,000 union employees that are on furlough, and we have bills to pay,’ how do we make it all come together?” After creating a business plan, ExpressJet submitted its application to the US DoT’s Fitness Authority to reinstate the airline’s ability to fly commercially. The DoT released its final fitness order July 30, allowing ExpressJet to restart commercial operations, in part thanks to its balance sheets, including $14m received in federal aid under the Cares Act and US Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, an ExpressJet spokesperson said.<br/>
Norwegian Air saw a jump in passengers in July due to the lifting of some travel restrictions in Europe and more people being vaccinated, and plans to offer more routes in autumn and winter, it said on Thursday. The budget carrier, which emerged from government-backed bankruptcy proceedings in May, said capacity expansion, as measured by available seat kilometres (ASK), had increased by 104% year on year with passenger traffic (revenue passenger km) up 124%. Still, the number of passengers flown last month was less than a fifth of those flown at the same time two years ago, before the pandemic started. “Demand is driven by easing in travel restrictions, in addition to a higher level of the population being vaccinated,” Norwegian Air said. The company flew 33 aircraft in July, up from 15 in June, it said. “For the coming autumn and winter season, the number of aircraft and routes will gradually be increased to meet anticipated market demand,” it added, without giving details. Norwegian Air emerged from six months of bankruptcy protection in late May with a smaller fleet and its debt almost wiped out but facing stronger competition and lingering uncertainty wrought by the pandemic.<br/>