UK regional airline Loganair and Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus have formed a new interline agreement to provide greater access to transatlantic routes via Dublin and Manchester.
Glasgow-based Loganair currently flies direct to Dublin from Aberdeen and Inverness, and the new agreement will allow travellers to access Aer Lingus’ transatlantic schedule – which includes flights to Miami, Cleveland and Connecticut from Dublin – along with the added advantage of clearing US Immigration at Dublin airport prior to departure.
Travellers connecting from Isle of Man and Newquay can now also access the Irish carrier’s US-bound routes via Manchester.
Likewise, the partnership will offer Aer Lingus customers access to Loganair’s touchpoints across the UK.
The expansion comes amid a summer of growth for the Scottish airline, with new routes and frequencies across key destinations, including more regional routes from Heathrow. This summer will also see Aer Lingus operate its largest ever North American programme with 2.25 million seats on sale across 19 transatlantic routes.
Loganair CEO Jonathan Hinkles said the partnership “adds to our ever-increasing portfolio of interline and codeshare agreements” and that the carrier “looks forward to working with Aer Lingus long into the future”.
Aer Lingus chief strategy and planning officer Reid Mood added: “As we enter into peak summer with our largest transatlantic schedule to date, we are delighted to announce our interline agreement with Loganair, giving customers that are connecting from Manchester and Dublin more access and choice to North America.
“Close to 40 per cent of our transatlantic passengers connect in Dublin, which we hope will now increase with this new partnership.”