Aer Lingus to temporarily suspend transatlantic routes

Irish carrier Aer Lingus will suspend its routes from Shannon to New York and Boston between January and March next year “in order to maintain the viability of our Shannon transatlantic operations throughout the remainder of the year”.

Both routes will be suspended for a period of 11 weeks between January 5, 2011 and March 27, 2011. The move will affect a total of eight flights per week – four to each US city.

Aer Lingus says the decision was made “following a detailed review of route profitability”, but added that it was “committed to the Shannon market as an important part of our network”, and would “continue to operate these services for the remaining nine months of the year”.

The carrier says that the routes have incurred “significant losses during the winter months in 14 of the past 15 years”, with a total of €163 million being lost on transatlantic flights from Shannon over the winter periods since 1995.

For more information visit aerlingus.com