Aer Arann Signs Franchise Agreement with Aer Lingus.

[cHabu]

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Surprising news from Ireland:

Tuesday January 26th 2010: Aer Arann and Aer Lingus have today announced that agreement has been reached to establish a franchise arrangement between the two airlines.

Under this franchise agreement Aer Arann will operate 12 routes from Dublin and Cork . The routes will include current Aer Lingus and Aer Arann routes as well as 3 new routes.

These franchise services will be branded as “Aer Lingus Regional” and operated using Aer Arann ATR 72-500 aircraft and crew. All franchise flights will be sold and distributed
through http://www.aerlingus.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; . Aer Arann will assume full operational and commercial responsibility for the services covered by the franchise agreement with Aer Lingus
receiving a franchise fee in recognition for providing its brand and product suite to Aer Arann.

The new agreement significantly increases Aer Lingus presence in the Ireland-UK market with new services to Ireland from Bristol , Blackpool, Cardiff , Doncaster/Sheffield, Durham ,
Glasgow and Edinburgh in addition to new seasonal services from Cork to Jersey in the Channel Islands and La Rochelle in France.

the official press release (incl. route info).

Credit: Aer Arann.

Bye, Chris.