New air routes plan shelved

The two new routes - Manchester and Edinburgh - were announced by Aer Arann on March 1 and both the airport authority and the airline expected them to perform well.

Unfortunately, despite the perceived interest, bookings for the routes have been very poor and the decision had to be taken to suspend the services, said the operator, which admitted that passenger loads booked on some flights were in single figures.

All intending passengers who have booked on the routes will be contacted by Aer Arann and they will receive full refunds.

The two routes were to begin on May 20 with six flights a week between Londonderry and Edinburgh and daily flights between City of Derry and Manchester. However, forward bookings over the summer proved to be very weak, said Aer Arann "with flights over the first weeks of the services booked only to single digit load factors".

The airline pointed out yesterday that while current trends are for advance bookings to be low, with passengers increasingly booking flights closer to the departure date, the booking profile on the proposed new routes was particularly weak even with fares as low as 36 one way including taxes.

"We sincerely regret suspending the route at this point but we must act in the overall interests of all of our customers and the airline," said Aer Arann Corporate Affairs Director Andrew Kelly.

"We looked at these routes and we felt there was an opportunity based on reported demand, but that demand has not materialized and so we have made the decision not to start routes that show no signs of being anything but loss making. While unfortunate and regrettable it is the wisest decision to make in the long term interest of our customers and the financial performance of the airline", he continued.

Aer Arann said it is happy to consider re-opening these routes and other possible routes from City of Derry in the future, perhaps when there is more recovery in the economy and when they can be deemed commercially viable.

The airline's double daily service between City of Derry and Dublin will continue to operate. However, due to the change in flight services and subsequent aircraft availability, the planned schedule change for the early morning departure time, also due to begin on May 20, will no longer apply. The first daily flight departure time to Dublin from City of Derry will remain at 8.10am arriving into Dublin at 9am as it currently operates.

Checked-in baggage allowance on all City of Derry to Dublin on Aer Arann network will remain unchanged at 15kg free of charge, with a cabin baggage allowance of 7Kgs free of charge.

City of Derry to Dublin passengers who are connecting onwards on international carriers will continue to have the baggage allowance of their connecting airline honoured by Aer Arann provided they present their onward itinerary with proof of baggage allowance at check-in.