Aer Lingus set to close Belfast base as move ‘shows harmful effects of Brexit on UK travel’

Aer Lingus, which is part of international group IAG, said the end of its 15-year operations from Belfast was now likely with the base due to close at the end of March.

Around 29 staff will be affected by the closure, including some who have worked for the airline since it set up here.

They are understood to have been deeply upset when they were told on Wednesday.

The airline had been flying from Belfast City Airport to Heathrow since 2012, five years after first setting up a base at Belfast International Airport.

But regulatory changes following Brexit affected its rights as a carrier in the UK, leading to talks with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) over how its ability to fly from Belfast to Heathrow could be maintained.

The airline stopped flying on the route in October, with sister airline British Airways operating the flights instead.

British Airways did not respond when asked whether it would continue what had been the Aer Lingus flights, in addition to its own from Belfast City to Heathrow.

Belfast City Airport also declined to comment but is understood to be hopeful that BA will continue to fill the Aer Lingus schedule.

Travel writer Simon Calder said that while consumers were unlikely to be affected, the change demonstrated the complexities which Brexit had introduced for UK travel.

An Aer Lingus spokesman said: “As an EU carrier, regulatory changes arising from the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, have had an impact on Aer Lingus’ traffic rights as a carrier within the UK market and, in particular, on the operation by Aer Lingus of the Belfast-London Heathrow route.

"Despite constructive discussions with the relevant authorities in the UK, we have to date been unable to identify a viable solution.

“We have therefore advised our Belfast-based staff of the likelihood that we will have to cease our Belfast-London Heathrow operation, which we have operated for 15 years, with effect from March 26 2023, leading to the closure of our Belfast base.

‘’We have now commenced consultations with our employees and their representatives, beginning with a meeting on Wednesday, where we explained the circumstances that have given rise to the current situation.

"We are working with union representatives and directly with employees to consult on these proposals and make available as many options as possible in the event of the closure of our Belfast base, including transfers to another base, so as to minimise the potential need to make a number of redundancies among our Belfast-based staff.

"We will continue to engage with the union representatives and employees, during the consultation process.”

The spokesman said customers booked to fly from Belfast to Heathrow up to and including March 25 would have their flights honoured.

However, if the closure of the Aer Lingus base is confirmed, they will be contacted by Aer Lingus by the end of next month and offered alternative flights or a refund.

Flights operated by Aer Lingus Regional through its franchise partner Emerald Airlines were not affected, the flight operator added.

Trade union Forsa said: "The airline has written to Fórsa to say the closure of its base in Belfast is now likely, because it says discussions with Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have not led to a solution which would facilitate the resumption of the Aer Lingus Belfast-Heathrow service.

“The company has moved to enter a consultation process with the union on how best to avoid, reduce or mitigate redundancies of up to 29 Belfast-based cabin crew.

“The options proposed include base transfers, and an enhanced severance package has also been outlined. The airline has also indicated its willingness to consider ‘other feasible options’ during the consultation process. There was an initial meeting on Wednesday in advance of the consultation process.”

Travel journalist Simon Calder said the complexities which had faced Aer Lingus were a realisation of the concerns of the industry about the potential impact of Brexit.

He said the UK and Ireland had been “at the forefront of European liberalisation of air travel, and the UK has decided to move backwards on that”.

But he added: “There was frankly a limit to the warnings that me and everybody else could put out because everything that we said was just met with, ‘oh, that’s just project fear’.

"Obviously the leave side was simply lying and saying what it wanted to say knowing that it would be completely unprovable.”

However, he said the departure of Aer Lingus would not have a detrimental effect on consumers.

“Given that IAG owns both BA and Aer Lingus, a little bit of shuffling around actually doesn’t make much difference,” said Mr Calder.

"You’ll still be sitting on the same Airbus A320 paying about the same fares. But I will miss flying Aer Lingus to and from Belfast City.

“It’s just yet another bleak sign of how with Brexit, people could make reasonable philosophical cases for it but it came at a huge cost, in terms of travel particularly.”