Aer Lingus is an Irish airline and member of the One World Alliance. Aer Lingus Teoranta was founded on 22.05.1936 and operated its first flight from Baldonnel Airfield Dublin to Bristol. In 1947, Aerlínte Éireann was founded as a company for transatlantic flights to New York and on 01.01.1960 it was renamed Aer Lingus - Irish International Airlines. The name Aer Lingus is the anglicised version of the Irish word “aerloingeas“, meaning air fleet.
The subsidiary company Aer Lingus Commuter was founded in 1984 and operates short haul flights to destinations in Ireland and England that are not served by jets. The subsidiary was integrated into the mother concern in the year 2001. Now Aer Lingus only flies using newer airbuses and has extended its European network in order to compete on the market with low-cost airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet. The airline is expected to be privatised in the near future. According to One World Alliance, Aer Lingus is planning on leaving the alliance in order to concentrate on its own strengths in the foreseeable future.
In the summer of 2005 Aer Lingus was awarded the prize "Airline of the Year 2005“ by the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland's Air Transport Users Council (ATUC).
The airline operates a service based on low-cost tickets and charge extra for checkng in baggage.
Fleet
Aer Lingus' fleet consists of 44 Airbus aircraft. These are: 30 Airbus A320, 6 Airbus A321, 3 Airbus A330-200 and 5 Airbus A330-300.
History
Aer Lingus has been oprerating flights since 1936. Most flights ceased to operate during the second World War and were only taken up again after the end of the war. The first flight over the Atlantic took place in 1958 to New York.
Network
With its distinctive green shamrock, the airline flies from Cork and Dublin to Great Britain, Scotland, Europe and the USA. Aer Lingus extended its European network back in the 1940s and 1950s and included services to Brussels, Amsterdam and Rome. New destinations include flights from and to Manchester, Glasgow and London as well as Paris, Copenhagen and New York.