The woes of Manchester to the USA are considerable. It no longer has any US carrier, with its network entirely in the hands of Aer Lingus UK, Singapore Airlines, TUI, and Virgin Atlantic. There are five summer routes: Atlanta, Houston, New York JFK, Orlando International, and Orlando Melbourne, down from 12 in the pre-pandemic 2019. There are 404,000 departing seats for sale this summer, nearly half (-46%) versus summer 2019. In contrast, the UK-US market has grown (+2%). Could things be changing for Manchester?
What Aer Lingus’ CEO says
Aer Lingus has 31% of Manchester-US seats for sale this summer, according to the latest Cirium data. It accounts for 12% of Aer Lingus’ total transatlantic capacity. This is despite only having two daily services, although capacity is helped by upgauging JFK from the A321LR to A330-300 for the season. Against this backdrop, Lynn Embleton, Aer Lingus’ CEO, says,
“If customers can fly non-stop, they will want to fly non-stop… [There are] plenty of other places [in the US that Aer Lingus might serve]… I can see Manchester growing manyfold for us.”
This will inevitably be based on the continued gaps in the market, significant indirect passenger traffic and decent enough fares, aircraft availability, and attractive incentives both from Manchester and US airports.
Manchester to the US
This summer, Aer Lingus UK, Singapore Airlines, TUI, and Virgin Atlantic have an average of six daily departures to the US. For context, Edinburgh has an average of five daily, helped by United doubling Newark to double daily. As of March 10th, Manchester’s US network is as follows:
| Manchester to… | Flights | Airline | Aircraft | Find flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | Daily | Virgin Atlantic (stops March 31st, resumes June 1st) | A330-300 | Click here for Manchester-Atlanta flights |
| New York JFK | Up to double daily | Aer Lingus (daily), Virgin Atlantic (up to daily) | Aer Lingus: A321LR until April 10th, then A330-300; Virgin: variously the A330-300, A350-1000 | Click here for Manchester-JFK flights |
| Houston | Three weekly | Singapore Airlines | A350-900 | Click here for Manchester-Houston flights |
| Orlando International | Up to 19 weekly | Aer Lingus (up to daily), Virgin (up to 12 weekly) | Aer Lingus: A330-300. Virgin: variously the A330-300, A350-1000 | Click here for Manchester-Orlando flights |
| Orlando Melbourne | Up to four weekly | TUI | 787-8, 787-9 | Click here for Manchester-Orlando Melbourne flights |
Manchester: significant US losses
There is no denying just how huge Manchester’s US losses have been in recent years. Examining schedules since 2015 shows that no longer has American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Jet2 (very limited Christmas New York flights using Newark), Pakistan International (fifth freedoms), Thomas Cook (defunct), and United Airlines. Virgin effectively replaced Delta.
Manchester no longer has non-stop flights to Boston, Chicago O’Hare, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Newark, Orlando Sanford (switched to Melbourne), Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington Dulles.
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Down to five US routes
Manchester has five US routes in summer 2023, down from 12 in summer 2019 and 13 in 2018. How many will return? Will United be back? Of the lost routes, Newark has more flights than any other.
Will Norse Atlantic see an opportunity at Manchester? And I wonder what Aer Lingus is planning exactly. Boston – previously served by Thomas Cook and Virgin – is surely likely, aided by Aer Lingus’ partnership with JetBlue.
What would you like to see from Manchester? Let us know in the comments.
Source of the quote: Independent.ie. Analysis and commentary by me.