Photo Essay: a short trip across the Irish Sea on Aer Lingus Regional

I will not pretend here, this article is unlikely to be particularly useful for anybody other than those who have an interest in aviation or travel. I’m not being sarcastic either. Aer Lingus Regional (AER) is a franchise airline, in effect they are one airline that operates using the systems, colours, brandings and livery of another airline - usually because the brand will have more resonance with travellers. On this flight, although it was AER branded, it was for all intents and purposes a Stobart Air flight. Since travelling this route late last year, Stobart Air has gone out of business - so it’s unlikely that you will be using this review for anything useful soon. However, I thought it would still be worth sharing as the UK is home to many ultra short flights like this operated on similar aircraft by airlines such as Eastern Air, Loganair and the new franchisee of AER, Emerald.

We headed towards Edinburgh Airport in the same way we travelled from it - by bus. Very easy and quick once again - something that I would extremely recommend to anybody travelling to/from the airport. The terminal itself was deathly quiet and only had a few scheduled departures on the day we travelled - a sign of the Covid times which, hopefully, are now passing. Arriving way too early for this flight, we was a little bored in the terminal - finding that the British Airways and Priority Pass lounges were both closed. The only options were really WH Smith and All Bar One - we opted for the latter so we had somewhere to relax and grab a coffee. Nothing out of this world, but decent compared to the standard fare in some airports.

Our flight was operated using the smallest aircraft in the Aer Lingus fleet, the ATR turboprop aircraft. Think uncomfortable seating, little legroom and loud propellers - its definitely not a Finnair A350 - but for a short flight, it does the job.

The flight took off with no more than five passengers - making the flight less than 10% occupied versus the capacity. If this has been sustained since then, it is no wonder than Stobart Air has found itself in financial difficulty. We set off from an overcast Edinburgh, and made our way above the clouds for the short 30 minute hop across to Belfast encountering some beautiful views on the way. The flight itself had nothing in the way of amenities - there isn’t enough time to do so but I suspect in pre-Covid times they may have offered some Buy on Board options like tea, coffee and small snacks.

Upon landing in Belfast, it was pretty clear where we was. Firstly, the weather was horrible and felt like winter had already arrived.

Secondly, it was clear we was on the Island of Ireland from the advertisements at George Best Belfast Airport…I say no more

Image taken from Charlton Life Forum (as I didn’t take one myself!!)

This flight article or review was never going to set the world on fire, but it was great to once again, after a whole year, to be back up in the air. The feeling of proper travel like this was great and my first time on this type of plane was different. I’m looking forward to be flying again soon, it’s well overdue - and I can feel revenge travel fever coming on.

Next in the series: Belfast & the surrounding areas in Northern Ireland during my first trip to this part of the UK!