Aer Lingus obtains slots for long-haul ops from Manchester

Aer Lingus (EI, Dublin Int’l) has obtained slots at Manchester Int’l for unspecified long-haul routes and plans to base one A330 and three A321-200NX(LR)s out of the English airport, according to Airport Coordination Limited. The Irish airline received 13 weekly slots during the week starting on April 26, 2020, and 58 weekly slots from the following week. The destinations were not revealed in the report. Aer Lingus has reportedly been studying opportunities for launching services to North America from the United Kingdom with Manchester primed to be the airport of origin. The airline is involved in discussions with authorities about securing traffic rights under the UK-US bilateral air services agreement, since the UK will no longer be covered by the European Union agreement as of January 1, 2021. Aer Lingus already operates two British bases, at London Heathrow and Belfast City, although both are only used to operate high-frequency cross-Irish Sea services. The airline operates transatlantic services from Dublin Int’l (using A330-200s, A330-300s, and A321-200NX(LR)s) and Shannon (exclusively using A321-200NX(LR)s). The latter will, however, remain suspended through at least mid-January 2021.