Aer Lingus considering closing their MAN base- now confirmed

Hearing reports that Aer Lingus are cancelling all the MAN long-haul flights from 23rd February 2026 onwards and passengers are in the process of being contacted to transfer onto a different flight or take a refund. No official announcement yet from Aer Lingus though.

Yes and apparently they are refusing to re book passengers onto the equivalent VS BGI, JFK and MCO flights. Simon Calder from the independent newspaper reported that the other day. Apparently Unite are balloting further strike action from February and March.

All in all very messy situation and I can see MP's getting involved given that the bae was profitable according to the last two sets of accounts. Apparently Aer Lingus will up BOS and JFK to 3 daily from DUB in the summer of 2026.

I booked with AerLingus this year for Sept to MCO as they were @ £1800 Business Class vs VS on @ £3200!
@ 2 weeks ago I got an email offering either to refund my fair or rebook me due "the uncertainty around Manchester". They have not yest technically cancelled any flights but are not booking any direct flights after 31st March.
I am now rebooked indirect via Dublin with a 3hour connection outbound and 1 hour coming back. They also buggered up my baggage allowance which has still not been resolved.
Needless to say I wont be rushing back to book AerLingus.
Interestingly I did a dummy booking for a random week in early December this year MAN to MCO in Business and VS are cheaper direct vs AerLingus indirect!

[mitchja]

The closure has now been confirmed by EI.

MAN>JFK ends 23rd February 2026
MAN>MCO & BGI ends 31st March 2026

From their website:

A decision has been taken to cease Aer Lingus' Manchester transatlantic operations as of and from 31st March 2026. Manchester–New York operations will cease from 23rd February 2026 and Aer Lingus plans to operate a service from Dublin to Barbados (subject to receipt of necessary approvals) during the months of April and May to reaccommodate affected customers.

We do not expect there to be any impact to operations before these dates.

There is no impact to Aer Lingus or Aer Lingus Regional (Emerald Airlines) flights between Manchester and Ireland.

We understand that this is disappointing news and apologise for the disruption to our customers.

All impacted customers are being informed of the cancellation of flights directly and provided with reaccommodation and refund options.

We appreciate our customers' patience and cooperation during this time, as we contact customers directly regarding their flights.

If you have already contacted us to request an alternative flight or refund, please be assured that we are working on your request and will be in touch in due course.

For full information regarding your rights under EU261 see EU Regulation 261/2004.

Looks like VS have found the capacity to respond by laying on extra MCO flights this summer and looking to use the A350 on the JFK flights this winter: -

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/virgin- ... -haul-void

Also a hint of expansion for 2027 which could be interesting.

Good to see Virgin steeping up with more flights and hiring some of the crews from Aer Lingus. Had Norse Atlantic not stuck a deal with Indigo I think we would have seen Norse attempt MCO flights from MAN. I myself am considering booking flights for the World Cup as as England are playing some friend in Florida.