Aer Lingus is to leave the Oneworld alliance of airlines following a meeting of the board held last Thursday.
This means passengers will no longer be able to use their frequent flyer points with other member airlines and will no longer have access to the executive lounge facilities of other airlines such as BA and American Airlines, unless Aer Lingus can negotiate new bilateral agreements.
Chief executive Dermot Mannion said membership of the alliance had become less relevant because of the increasing number of direct services Aer Lingus now provides.
It is also believed Aer Lingus would have to sink up to €2m enhancing its systems to cope with the arrival of three new airlines into the alliance. Aer Lingus says these airlines are not especially relevant to many connecting Aer Lingus passengers.
