Despite healthy load factors, Aer Lingus is closing transatlantic bookings from Manchester
While the base is profitable, Aer Lingus is unhappy about its margins and has stopped selling tickets on long-haul flights beyond March 31, 2026.
Aer Lingus has informed its passengers that, due to ongoing uncertainty at its base at Manchester Airport (MAN), the airline is no longer selling tickets to its three transatlantic destinations from the airport beyond March 31, 2026, despite the fact that load factors on some of the routes have been healthy during the past year.
In a travel update to passengers, Aer Lingus, citing “a period of uncertainty on transatlantic services at” its MAN base, and an attempt to minimize customer disruption if the base does close, it will stop selling tickets on transatlantic services from the airport for travel from March 31, 2026.
At the heart of the issue is a dispute with its unions, with the airline arguing that, while the base has been profitable, the margins have been too low. In an internal memo, seen by the Irish Independent, the Irish carrier affirmed that “whilst the Manchester base is profitable, the margins at the base are significantly below that in other comparable parts of Aer Lingus’ business.”
Aer Lingus has explored various options with its unions, but warned that none of them appear to be “viable,” it added.
Tensions at MAN flared up in late 2025. In October 2025, Unite, a union representing Aer Lingus’ flight attendants at the British airport, warned that its members were planning multiple walkouts in late October and November 2025. The strikes were announced after the union’s members rejected “a pay rise of nine percent this year and three percent next year.”
Unite stated that while this might be a high number on paper, “salaries at Aer Lingus are low with the starting salary of £17,640.25 [$23,671.72] well below minimum wage.” In addition, flight attendants who are hired in Ireland have a starting salary of €29,833.26 ($34,735.46), according to the union.
Quite the difference.
“The cost of living in Manchester is not substantially lower than in Dublin, with both being major cities facing high housing and living costs. Unite members at Aer Lingus UK have reported struggling to pay rent and having to take on second jobs to afford essentials.”
On November 24, 2025, Unite said that Aer Lingus had proposed to close its base at MAN, issuing a redundancy notice for over 200 employees at the airport, including Unite’s 150 flight attendants working for the Irish carrier.
“Last year, Aer Lingus recorded an operating profit of €205m [$238.7 million] and has projected profits of around £35 million [$46.9 million] from just two aircraft operating three long haul routes at Manchester Airport.”
Aer Lingus began offering transatlantic flights from MAN in October 2021, first offering flights to Bridgetown Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI), Barbados. The Irish carrier’s British subsidiary, which has its own air operator’s certificate (AOC), took delivery of its first Airbus A330-300 on September 18, 2021, per planespotters.net.
The second A330-300 arrived at MAN on October 19, 2021.
Since then, the Irish carrier’s long-haul operations from MAN included three destinations: BGI, New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), and Orlando International Airport (MCO).
Cirium’s Diio Mi, compiling data from the Department of Transportation (DOT), indicated that load factors on the two United States-bound routes have been healthy. Between January and September 2025, which is the latest data available, Aer Lingus’ flights from MAN to JFK and MCO were, on average, 78.85% full.
Load factors from MAN to JFK peaked at 92.58% in August 2025, while the zenith on the MAN-MCO route was 88.20%, achieved during the same month.
This is not the first time that Aer Lingus has had disputes with its unions that have resulted in significant changes to its operations and/or plans. In 2024, months before the scheduled delivery of its first Airbus A321XLR, the Irish airline had to give up its delivery slot to another International Airlines Group (IAG) carrier, Iberia.
In a statement at the time, Aer Lingus cited its inability to give IAG “the cost structure assurances necessary” to keep the delivery slot that would have made the Irish carrier the launch customer of the type.
Eventually, the two sides reached an agreement in July 2024, with the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (IALPA) detailing that following the positive vote on the new contract, the airline’s Ireland-based pilots would earn 19% more.
Still, Iberia became the launch customer of the A321XLR, taking delivery of its first long-range narrowbody on October 29, 2024. Aer Lingus’ first A321XLR arrived at Dublin Airport (DUB) on December 18, 2024, with the airline welcoming two aircraft of the type on the same day.
Since then, Iberia has welcomed six more A321XLRs, while the Irish carrier’s A321XLR fleet now numbers five aircraft. In total, IAG, the parent company of both airlines, ordered 14 A321XLRs during the Paris Air Show in June 2019, splitting the order between eight deliveries to Iberia and six to Aer Lingus.
Rytis Beresnevicius
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