Aer Lingus history

In April 1937, Aer Lingus became wholly owned by the Irish government via Aer Rianta.

In 1939, three years after being established as the national carrier under the Air Navigation and Transport Act, Aer Lingus received two Lockheed L-14, its first all-metal aircraft.

In January 1940, a new airport opened in the Dublin suburb of Collinstown and Aer Lingus moved its operations there.

These restarted on November 9th, 1945, with a flight to London.

For example, its acquisition of seven Vickers Vikings in 1947 proved to be an uneconomical enterprise, resulting in their sale.

In 1956, Aer Lingus introduced a new, green-top livery with a white lightning flash down the windows and the Irish flag displayed on the fin.

On the 14th of December, 1960, the company acquired its first jets – three Boeing 720s, followed by the Boeing 707, four years later.

In 1963, Aer Lingus added Aviation Traders Carvairs to the fleet.

In 1966, a new transatlantic route was inaugurated – from Shannon to Montreal and onward to Chicago.

In 1967, after 30 years of service, General Manager Dr J.F. Dempsey signed the contract for the airline's first two Boeing 747 aircraft before he retired later that year.

In 1968, flights from Belfast, in Northern Ireland, to New York City started, however, it was soon suspended due to the beginning of the Troubles.

Aer Lingus introduced Boeing 737s to its fleet in 1969 to cope with the high demand for flights between Dublin and London.

In 1970, Aer Lingus received two Boeing 747s for its transatlantic routes.

On 6 March 1971, Aer Lingus took delivery of the first of two Boeing 747s for use on the transatlantic routes.

1972: United States-Ireland landing rights dispute nearly costs Aer Lingus access to New York.

The closure of the New York route was deferred and the issue was finally resolved in June 1973; Pan Am and TWA received the right to fly directly to Dublin rather than Shannon.

In 1974, Aer Lingus unveiled a new livery which eliminated the word International and/or Irish from the fuselage titles.

Aviation Traders (Engineering), based at London's Stansted Airport, was acquired in 1976.

In 1977, Aer Lingus recruited its first female pilot, Gráinne Cronin – the airline was the second in Europe (after SAS) to introduce female pilots.

In addition to political violence at home and in the Middle East, Aer Lingus endured significant labor unrest, culminating in a bitter strike in March and April 1978.

After nearly a decade of discussions, Aer Lingus acquired a 54 percent interest in tiny, all-cargo Aer Turas in 1980.

Deregulation of United States air carriers and open skies agreements around the world complicated the competitive scenario for Aer Lingus, which posted a IR£11.2 million loss in 1981.

1983: Aer Lingus Commuter is launched.

In 1984, the airline formed a fully owned subsidiary, Aer Lingus Commuter, so that Aer Lingus could fly to larger cities in Ireland and Britain whose flying time from Dublin did not require jet aircraft.

After falling sharply the year before, traffic on the North Atlantic grew more than 20 percent in 1985, reaching 292,000 passengers.

On the occasion of its Golden Jubilee in 1986, Aer Lingus restored a de Havilland DH-84 aircraft for exhibitions at air shows.

The launch of independent Irish carrier Ryanair in 1987 brought Aer Lingus intense low-fare competition in the European market.

In 1989, Aer Lingus canceled a ticket-exchange deal with British Midland after it announced a competing London-Dublin service.

During 1990, after the passage of the deregulation act for the airline industry in Ireland, Aer Lingus reconsidered its operational policies.

Craig, Carole, “Shannon Airport Mandatory Stopover Becomes Difficult Irish Business Issue,” Wall Street Journal, June 19, 1992.

In 1994, Aer Lingus started direct services between Dublin and the United States using the Airbus A330 and in May of that year, Aer Lingus operated the first A330-300 ETOPS service over the North Atlantic.

Aer Lingus retired its Boeing 747s in 1995.

Sales continued to rise, and Aer Lingus boasted pre-tax profits of IR£55 million in 1998.

It is yet to rejoin, or move to any other alliance. It became the group's ninth airline in June 2000, having been confirmed as an incoming member the previous December alongside LAN Chile.

On 1 February 2001, Aer Lingus Commuter merged back into the mainline operation.

Weldon, Niall G., Pioneers in Flight: Aer Lingus and the Story of Aviation in Ireland, Dublin: Liffey Press, 2002.

To reduce training and maintenance expenditures, the short-haul fleet was standardized on a single aircraft type, the Airbus A320, beginning around 2003.

Another round of cuts was announced in 2004.

A fifth of the fleet was dedicated to its nine long-haul routes; its networks extended to the United States and the United Arab Emirates, the latter via a Dublin-Dubai route initiated in March 2005.

The company began conditional (or "grey-market") share dealings on 27 September 2006 and was formally admitted to the Official Lists of the Irish Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange on 2 October 2006.

On 6 February 2007, however, the airline announced its intention to form a new alliance with JetBlue.

At the same time, the mandatory Shannon stopover for United States planes was scheduled to be phased out by April 2008.

Deliveries of the A330 began in February 2009.

On 8 January 2010, due to the weak demand in air travel, Aer Lingus announced that it was to reduce the number of aircraft based at Gatwick from five to three.

In January 2011, Aer Lingus announced a new daily service from Gatwick to Shannon starting at the end of March.

On 19 June 2012, Ryanair announced its intention to launch another bid to take over Aer Lingus, at €1.30 per share, for a total of €694 million.

On 27 February 2013, the European Commission blocked the third attempt by Ryanair to take over Aer Lingus, stating that the merger would have damaged consumers' choice and resulted in increased fares.

On 14 December 2014, International Airlines Group (IAG), owner of British Airways, Iberia and Vueling, launched a €1 billion takeover-bid (€2.30 per-share) for Aer Lingus Group plc.

On 16 February 2015 the company announced that the new CEO and director would be Stephen Kavanagh, beginning 1 March 2015.

The Dublin-Los Angeles route was reintroduced on 4 May 2016.

In January 2017, Aer Lingus announced its intention to order 7 Airbus A321LR in order to develop thinner transatlantic routes which cannot be operated profitably using A330 aircraft and also to replace the 4 Boeing B757 aircraft on lease from ASL Airlines Ireland.

In 2018, the year that Aer Lingus celebrated 60 years of flying across the Atlantic, two new transatlantic routes were inaugurated, direct service to Philadelphia and Seattle.

As of 1 January 2019, Sean Doyle became the new Aer Lingus CEO.

With just 5% of scheduled flights operating, it was announced on 1 May 2020 that Aer Lingus was seeking 900 job cuts.

In June 2021, the airline said it wanted to freeze workers' pay for five years while it is proposing sharp cuts in rates paid to new cabin and crew staff.