Aer Lingus partners with CityJet for London to Dublin route

Aer Lingus and CityJet have joined forces to operate a new route between London and Dublin. Starting 28 October, Aer Lingus will operate six daily round trips on weekdays, with a reduced service on weekends.

The schedule is tailored to provide competitive travel options across the day for guests travelling on business or for leisure with prices starting from EUR 49.99 (USD 60).

The 50 weekly flights will feature CityJet providing two aircraft in Aer Lingus livery for business and leisure travellers. This means Aer Lingus will now operate services between Dublin and all three major London airports – Heathrow, Gatwick and now London City.

The leasing agreement between the two airlines is known in the aviation industry as an ACMI lease, which stands for aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance. Under this, Aer Lingus can operate the aircraft without the financial burden of buying them while expanding its capacity. CityJet will provide aircraft (namely two Avro RJ85 aircraft), crew, maintenance, and insurance to Aer Lingus.

“a provider of capacity to customer airlines throughout Europe”

Pat Byrne, CityJet chief executive officer, said: “In recent years we have transitioned CityJet from being an airline serving scheduled markets under its own brand into becoming a provider of capacity to customer airlines throughout Europe. We are delighted to now add Aer Lingus to our growing list of flying partners.”

This expansion will enable Aer Lingus to increase its operations between the two capital cities as Dublin-London is the busiest international air route in Europe.

“travel seamlessly from the heart of London City to North America”

Stephen Kavanagh, Aer Lingus chief executive officer, said: “We are delighted to be entering into this agreement with CityJet. Aer Lingus is on an ambitious flight path and working with Pat and his team will allow us add to our extensive services to London Heathrow and London Gatwick.

“The Dublin to London City route will facilitate further business flows between Dublin and London and the service will provide those wishing to travel seamlessly from the heart of London City to North America with a very attractive connecting proposition, including US customs and immigration pre-clearance.”