Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus was founded by the Irish Government in April 1936 to provide air services to/from Ireland. The first flight, from Dublin to Bristol, took place on May 27th 1936. On October 2nd 2006, Aer Lingus entered a new phase in its history with the airline's floatation on the Irish and London Stock Exchanges, becoming a publicly quoted company and realising €400 million in equity for the airline's future growth.

Aer Lingus' low-cost, low fares model is centred on maintaining low unit cost, offering one way fares, maintaining effective fleet utilisation and developing the Aer Lingus brand. Consistent with this low-cost model, Aer Lingus' primary distribution channel is its website aerlingus.com. In 2010, approximately 81% of total passenger revenue was generated through aerlingus.com.

Products & Services

Cabin Classes

Aer Lingus offers a single economy class service on all short-haul routes, and a two class Business and Economy service on all long-haul routes.

Auxiliary Revenue

In addition to revenue from low fares, Aer Lingus also generates revenue from sales of products and services that are ancillary to its core passenger operations, including:

- In-flight sales of merchandise, beverages and hot and cold meals

- Commissions from sales of car rentals

- Hotel accommodation and travel insurance sold through aerlingus.com

- Fees for passenger upgrades

- Access to airport lounges

- Commissions from online currency conversion

- Advertising in Aer Lingus' in-flight magazine "Cara"

Gold Circle Club: Gold Circle Membership provides access to exclusive airport lounges, special reservation services and other benefits, such as advanced seat preferences and dedicated check-in areas.

Other Services

Aer Lingus provides a cargo transportation service on some of its scheduled passenger routes, including services to the United States and Europe. Aer Lingus provides mail transportation services between Ireland and the United Kingdom. In addition to providing its own cargo handling services at Dublin and Shannon airports, Aer Lingus provides cargo handling services to Singapore Airlines, SAS and Lufthansa.

Aer Lingus