Ten regional routes operated by Stobart Air to continue, Aer Lingus says

Aer Lingus has put in place arrangements that will see ten of its regional routes previously operated by Stobart Air continue to operate for the time being.

Six of the routes will be operated by Aer Lingus itself until the end of August and the airline said it is working on progressing plans for beyond that date.

The six routes are Belfast - Edinburgh, Belfast – Manchester, Belfast – Birmingham, Dublin – Manchester, Dublin – Edinburgh and Dublin – Glasgow.

The Dublin – Glasgow route will not, however, restart until July 19.

A further four routes will be operated by BA CityFlyer for the rest of this summer, although some won't begin for a number of weeks.

These are Belfast - Leeds Bradford, Belfast – Exeter, Belfast – Glasgow (starting on August 2) and Belfast – Newquay (beginning on July 3).

Its regional services between Belfast - East Midlands and Belfast – Cardiff are cancelled until at least June 27.

Aer Lingus reiterated that it stands ready to take on the Dublin – Kerry Public Service Obligation (PSO) route that Stobart Air had the contract for, subject to an appropriate PSO arrangement being put in place with the state.

Both it and the Dublin – Donegal PSO route also remain cancelled until at least June 27.

Aer Lingus is also exploring options that might enable it provide flights on the Dublin - Donegal route.

On Tuesday the Government agreed to launch an emergency procurement process this week with a view to restoring services on the two PSO routes as quickly as possible.

It said it anticipated the emergency procurement process will be completed by early July and that the contracts would be awarded for 7 months, bringing them up to the planned renewal date for the contracts that Stobart Air held.

Estonian airline Nordica has confirmed to RTÉ News that it may be interested in operating the two PSO routes.

Chief Commercial Officer, Deepak Ahluwalia, said the airline will take the opportunity to evaluate and submit a bid as soon as tenders are announced on the routes, although no certain decisions have been made.

Stobart Air collapsed last weekend after a planned sale of the company by its parent Esken to Isle of Man firm Ettyl fell through.