is a privately-held
Regional Airline based in
Dublin ,
Ireland . It operates scheduled and charter services throughout Ireland, the United Kingdom and France. Its main base is
Dublin International Airport , with hubs at
Cork International Airport , Isle of Man (Ronaldsway) Airport and
Galway Airport .
Aer Arann began providing flights between
Galway and three of the
Aran Islands in
1970 . In 1994 Padraig O'Ceidigh purchased the airline and began to expand its routes and fleet. Just over 625,000 passengers flew Aer Arann flights in
2003 .
The airline has greatly expanded its route network since it was founded, especially since changing from an island-oriented service to a regional one in
1998 , when a service between
Donegal and
Dublin was first established. Aer Arann also started freight service between
Dublin and
Coventry that same year, its first flights to
Great Britain . Passenger flights outside Ireland first started in
2000 , when a daily service between Dublin and the
Isle Of Man was established. June
2004 saw the start of passenger flights to continental
Europe with the opening of a Galway-Waterford-Lorient route.
In early December 2004 Aer Arann announced that it had carried 400,000 passengers through
Cork Airport since the start of 2004, an increase of 57% on the previous year.
In October 2004, and again in October 2005, Aer Arann received the bronze award in the
European Regions Airline Association 's Airline of the Year awards.
Aer Arann has approximately 350 employees as of 2005.
Between February and April 2006, Aer Arann announced the launch of over 10 new services, including the first services from Wales and Belgium:
- Cardiff to Cork, Lorient, Galway and Dublin
- Liege to Birmingham and Lorient
- Angers to Cork, London Luton and Manchester
- Cork to Angers, Cardiff, Jersey and Newquay
- Dublin to Inverness
- Galway to Liverpool
Aer Arann serves the following destinations:
- to Cork
- to Liege (Belgium)
- to Cork
- to Cork, Lorient, Dublin, Galway
- to Belfast City, Cardiff , Dublin , Bristol, Jersey , Lorient , Edinburgh , Angers and Southampton
- to Glasgow Prestwick and Dublin
- to Cardiff, Cork, Galway, Donegal, Kerry , Knock 28 May , Sligo and Isle Of Man , Inverness
- to Cork and Galway
- to Cardiff, Dublin, Manchester, Edinburgh, Luton , Lorient (seasonal March-October) and Liverpool
- to Donegal
- to Dublin
- to Dublin, Liverpool, Luton
- to Dublin, Manchester and Lorient
- to Dublin
- to Isle of Man and Galway
- to Cork, Galway and Waterford (seasonal March-October), Luton, Kerry, Liege (from 16th May 2006)
- to Galway, Waterford, Isle of Man, Lorient and Liege
- to Galway, Angers, Kerry and Waterford
- to Dublin
- to Cork
- to Luton, Manchester and Lorient (seasonal March-October)
- to Cork and Manchester
- to Cork
- to London Luton , Lorient , Birmingham (All from 15th May 2006/16th May 2006)
Aer Arann Islands provides the following services (at January 2005):
The Aer Arann fleet consists of the following aircraft (at February 2006):
In March 2006, Aer Arann fleet age is 14.7 years old.
The Aer Arann Islands fleet consists of the following aircraft (at January 2005):
